William Vale

Squadron Leader William "Cherry" Vale DFC & Bar, AFC (3 June 1914 – 29 November 1981) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot who, during the Second World War, claimed 30 enemy aircraft shot down and shared in the destruction of three others, and also claiming 6 damaged and another two shared damaged.

His 20 kills achieved while flying the Hawker Hurricane and his 10 with the Gloster Gladiator made him the second highest scoring Hurricane and second high scoring biplane pilot (second in both cases to Marmaduke Pattle) in the RAF.

Entry into RAF
Born in Chatham, Kent, William Vale entered the RAF in 1931 as a Fitter and then as a Gunner. In 1935 he was posted to No. 33 Squadron RAF in Egypt, equipped with the Hawker Hart.In 1936 he began training as a pilot at 4 FTS, Abu Sueir. He returned as a Sergeant pilot to 33 squadron in late 1937. In March 1938 the unit converted to the Gloster Gladiator.

Combat Operations
Based in Egypt at the beginning of the war, Vale flew operations over the Libyan border. Between 1 July 1940 and 28 February 1941 Vale claimed 10 Regia Aeronautica aircraft in the Gladiator, although several of his victories are not confirmed.

He claimed his first victory on 1 July 1940, a Fiat CR.32 over Fort Capuzzo. But this claim cannot be verified with Italian sources as the 50° Stormo, the only unit operating this type did not suffer any losses on this day.

On 15 July, during a defensive patrol he claimed a shared Savoia Marchetti SM.79 near Mersa Matruh. The Italian unit involved is not known and this claim cannot be verified with Regia Aeronautica records.

In July Vale was commissioned and posted to No. 80 Squadron. He saw action over Greece and the Balkans through late 1940 and early 1941, and flew over Crete in May 1941 in defence of the island.

Between 3 March 1941 and 12 June 1941 Vale claimed some 20 kills, all while flying the Hawker Hurricane. Some of these victories however remain to be confirmed.

For instance on 4 March 1941 he claimed a Fiat G.50 destroyed over Himare-Valona, in Albania, while flying Hurricane V7589. The Regia Aeronautica did not report losing any G.50. types. On 18 May Vale was evacuated from Crete to Egypt.

He then flew operations over Syria against the Vichy French and three of his kills were over Vichy French Air Force aircraft. On 11 June 1941 Vale claimed a Potez 63 of GR II/39, which was damaged. Next day he claimed two Dewoitine D.520 fighters near Haifa.

With the chaotic retreats from Greece and Crete official RAF records -including combat reports-were destroyed, making many pilot's claims for enemy aircraft destroyed impossible to verify. However Vale's claim total appears to be around 30 with 3 shared destroyed, 6 damaged and 1 shared damaged. But at least seven of his claims cannot be verified with Regia Aeronautica and Luftwaffe records.

Vale had fought in the North African Campaign, Greek Campaign and the Battle of Crete.

Vale did not participate in combat operations for the remainder of the war.

Awarded the DFC and bar, in July 1941 Vale was posted to RAF Haifa as Operations Officer, returning to the United Kingdom in April 1942 to become CFI at 59 OTU. In March 1943 Vale attended the Central Gunnery School at Sutton Bridge, then commanded 11 AFC at Fairwood Common until the end of the war.

Post war
In 1946 he was O.C. Gunnery and Armament Testing at West Raynham, but he left the service in October having also been awarded an AFC. He lived in Nottinghamshire for some years, and was killed in a road accident on 29 November 1981.