William Henry Rhodes-Moorhouse

William Henry "Willie" Rhodes-Moorhouse DFC, (4 March 1914 – 6 September 1940) was an Royal Air Force pilot who was killed in action during the Battle of Britain. He was one of The Few.

Early life
Rhodes-Moorhouse was born on 4 March 1914 at a house in Brompton Square, London. When he was less than a year old, his father, William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse, who was the first airman to be awarded the VC, was wounded in action and died of his injuries.The Rhodes-Moorhouse family enjoyed considerable wealth and circulated in the top echelons of upper-class society of the time.

William was educated at Eton College, where he was able to obtain his pilots licence aged 17. In October 1933, William inherited his father's estate of over £250,000 (a huge sum for the time).

After travelling extensively, on 15 September 1936 at Marylebone Rhodes-Moorhouse married Amalia Demetriadi, who had been approached to be screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in the film Gone with the Wind. She declined.

A keen sportsman, Rhodes-Moorhouse was selected for the British Winter Olympics team for the 1936 Winter Olympics, but an accident on the ski jump prevented him from competing.

Royal Air Force
In 1937 he joined the RAF, flying Bristol Blenheims with No. 601 Squadron RAF. At the start of the war 601 Squadron moved to Biggin Hill. On 28 November 1939 he participated on a raid by the Squadron's Blenheims on the German seaplane base at Borkum. The Squadron re-equipped with the Hawker Hurricane in March 1940.

With the German attack ion France in May 1940 ‘A’ flight of 601 squadron were sent to Merville airfield. Rhodes-Moorhouse claimed a Heinkel He-111 bomber shot down near Brussels on 18 May. On 19 May he force-landed Hurricane L2088 after the auxiliary fuel tank was holed by return fire from a Bf 110 near Douai. He then claimed a Bf 109 shot down on the 22 May.

No. 601 were withdrawn to Tangmere on 17 June, in July flew against the initial Luftwaffe attacks over the Channel and the South coast.Rhodes-Moorhouse shared in the destruction of a Do17 on 7 July and 11 July. He also claimed a Ju88 and shared another on the 16 July. He was awarded the DFCin late July 1940.

On 11 August Rhodes-Moorhouse claimed two Bf 109’s destroyed.

He claimed another Bf 109 on 18 August, a shared He111 on 30 August, and two Bf 109’s probably destroyed on the 31 August, with a Do17 destroyed on 4 September.

On 6 September 601 were engaged above Tunbridge Wells with Bf 109’s. Rhodes-Moorhouse's Hurricane, (P8818) was shot down and crashed near High Brooms railway viaduct.

He is buried in a private cemetery in the grounds of his family's former home, Parnham House (in Dorset, near Beaminster), with his father.