The Merseyside Few are the World War II pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain and are buried in the Merseyside area of England. This site tells their stories, and those of their fellow pilots who have a connection with Liverpool and Wirral.

It remains a work in progress, as more information is discovered about the lives and deaths of these extraordinary World War II pilots. In 2010 I made it it public in the hope that the research would be useful and interesting despite being incomplete.

I also hope that readers may contribute further information to help clarify and expand what I’ve found.

For more information about the reasons for this site, please see the About page.

– Adrian Cork, August 2024

The Pilots

Thomas Donald Little

Name: Date Of Birth: Place of Birth: Date Of Death: Place of Death: Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information about Thomas Donald Little, please contact me. Background and Early Life Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Funeral and Memorials Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Acknowledgements Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Gallery

George Edward Bowes Stoney

Name: Date Of Birth: Place of Birth: Date Of Death: Place of Death: Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information about George Edward Bowes Stoney, please contact me. Background and Early Life Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Funeral and Memorials Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Acknowledgements Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Gallery

Reginald Frank Rimmer

Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information about Reginald Frank Rimmer, please contact me. Background and Early Life Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Funeral and Memorials Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Acknowledgements Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Gallery

James Hayward Little

Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information about James Hayward Little, please contact me. Background and Early Life Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Funeral and Memorials Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Acknowledgements Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Gallery

Raymond Towers Holmes

Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information about Raymond Towers Holmes, please contact me. Background and Early Life Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Funeral and Memorials Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Acknowledgements Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Gallery

Kenneth McLeod Gillies

Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information about Kenneth McLeod Gillies, please contact me. Background and Early Life Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Funeral and Memorials Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Acknowledgements Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Gallery

John Connell Freeborn

Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information about John Connell Freeborn, please contact me. Background and Early Life Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Funeral and Memorials Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Acknowledgements Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Gallery

Stanley Allen Fenemore

Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information about Stanley Allen Fenemore, please contact me. Background and Early Life Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Funeral and Memorials Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Acknowledgements Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Gallery

David Evans

Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information about David Evans, please contact me. Background and Early Life Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Funeral and Memorials Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Acknowledgements Research not yet complete, but will appear here when ready. If you have any information, please contact me. Gallery

Thomas Daniel Humphrey Davy

Of all the Merseyside Few, the story of Thomas Daniel Humphry Davy is the one that has affected me most. He was born in Shanghai in 1920 and spent his formative years travelling between there and England. He enlisted in the RAF in 1938, flew in the Battle of France where he was decorated for his part in the most famous raid of the early part of the war. He flew in the Battle of Britain, helped integrate Polish pilots into the RAF and volunteered to be fired off a merchant ship by rockets during the Battle of the Atlantic....

Norman Sutton

Born and educated in Yorkshire, Norman Sutton’s life took him to Merseyside in the mid 1930s. Like his father, Norman worked for St Helens glass manufacturer Pilkington Bros. Ltd and with war looming joined the RAF.

Keenly aware of the ongoing international situation in the late 1930s, Norman Sutton was one of the first men from St Helens to enlist with the Auxillary Air Force, doing so before the outbreak of war. He trained with No 611 (West Lancashire) Squadron at RAF Speke with whom he flew some operational patrols in 1940.

Wladyslaw Szulkowski

Wladyslaw Szulkowski joined the Polish Air Force in the early 1930s and flew as a fighter pilot in the Polish Campaign. After Poland fell he escaped via Romania to France. In 1940 he came to England and fought in the Battle of Britain with No 65 Squadron. In December 1940 he volunteered for a new Polish RAF squadron that was being formed in the North West of England. Wladyslaw Szulkowski joined the Polish Air Force in the early 1930s. By the end of the decade he was an instructor, but with Nazi invasion he flew as a fighter pilot.

Otto Hanzlíček

Born in 1911 in a politically contentious place – a city in Austria-Hungary that became Czechoslovakian in 1918, and then subject to German expansionist desires that led to Nazi occupation – the causal politics of World War II were embedded in the life of Otto Hanzlíček.

Volunteering for Czechoslovak air force in 1930, he was an experienced Sergeant and fighter pilot by the time of the Nazi invasion. He escaped to France where he joined the French air force in summer 1939. Having shot down German planes, and survived being shot down in return, as France fell he escaped to the UK.

John Fraser Drummond

At just 19 years old John Drummond was granted a short service commission by the RAF on 4 June 1938. Less than two and a half years later he was dead, having given his life defending his country from the threat of invasion.

He saw service in Norway for which he was awarded a DFC before transferring to Biggin Hill at the height of the Battle of Britain.

Jindřich Bartoš

Jindřich Bartoš was born in Ukraine in 1911. In his early 20s he graduated as a pilot from the Czechoslovakian Army Academy. Escaping to France via Poland, he fought the invading Nazis as a fighter pilot in the French Air Force during the Battle of France. As invasion loomed he came to Britain in August 1940, and joined No 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron.

After being posted to Liverpool, Jindřich was one of a detachment deployed to defend Penrhos airfield in north Wales. In February 1941 whilst on practice manoeuvres his aircraft crashed. Older than many of his colleagues, he was still only 29.