MOODY Henry Wollaston

On 7th September 1940 Henry Moody was ordered from Westhampnett to Mayfield to intercept German aircraft attacking London. Flying Spitfire X4256 he was reported missing after this action. It is believed that he was shot down by an Me 109 near Biggin Hill.

Source for additional information:
http://www.602squadronmuseum.org.uk/history/roll_of_honour2.php
Squadron Leader A.V.R (Sandy) Johnstone who was flying out of Tangmere with 602 Squadron Leader A.V.R (Sandy) Johnstone who was flying out of Tangmere with 602 Squadron was one of those brought up from the south coast to give protection to London. He had the surprise of his life when he first saw the vast armada of bombers heading for the capital:
All we could see was row upon row of German raiders, all heading for London. I have never seen so many aircraft in the air all at the same time. . . . The escorting fighters saw us at once and came down like a ton of bricks, when the squadron split up and the sky became a seething cauldron of aeroplanes, swooping and swerving in and out of the vapour trails and tracer smoke. A Hurricane on fire spun out of control ahead of me while, above to my right, a 110 flashed across my vision and disappeared into the fog of battle before I could draw a bead on it. Everyone was shouting at once and the earphones became filled with a meaningless cacophony of jumbled noises. Everything became a maelstrom of jumbled impression – a Dornier spinning wildly with part of its port mainplane missing; black streaks of tracer ahead, when I instinctively put my arm up to shield my face; taking a breather when the haze absorbed me for a moment.
Squadron Leader A.V.R (Sandy) Johnstone, 602 Squadron, Sept 7th 1940.

The following information is courtesy and copyright of Bromsgrove School Archives:
Old Bromsgrovian Magazine:
Obituary
‘Harry’ Moody was the youngest of three Bromsgrovian brothers. On leaving School he spent a year in S. Germany, gaining a thorough knowledge of the language and developing his tastes in music and literature; he made also many friends in a country which was later to become our enemy. On his return he went into a business firm in London and, to fit himself better for the task, he studied economics. But he had a romantic and roving temperament and his heart was never in city life; his spare time was always filled with artistic, sporting and social activities. His favourite pursuits were winter sports, playing the flute and flying an airplane. He learned to fly three years before the outbreak of war, and in the thrill of flying his Spitfire he was in his element, though the long, uncongenial hours of waiting between the flights was a hard price to pay.