Paul Farnes, a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and the last surviving R.A.F. ace of the Battle of Britain, in which he shot down six German aircraft and damaged a half-dozen more, died on Jan. 28 in West Sussex, England. His death was announced by the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust. With France having fallen, Britain had reached a critical point in World War II and now had to defend itself against a relentless aerial assault by the Luftwaffe. A German victory in the air would almost certainly have led to a ground invasion of Britain more than a year before the United States entered the war.

Source: New York Times February 08, 2020 16:18 UTC