Les Clisby

Clisby became known as a highly aggressive fighter pilot, who threw himself into combat irrespective of the odds. In a five-day period, commencing on 10 May 1940, he was credited with destroying at least eight German aircraft. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for these and earlier victories, he was himself shot down in flames on 15 May. He was buried in France.

Estimates of Clisby's total number of victories in his short career range from nine to twenty or more, but the most common—and official—score attributed to him is sixteen. The loss of much of the RAF's documentation in the chaotic retreat through France and across the English Channel in May 1940 meant that many squadron records and combat claims had to be reconstructed from the memory of surviving personnel. Even the date of Clisby's death is unclear, some sources (including the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) claiming 14 May rather than the following day. Regardless of the exact date, he was the first RAF ace of the war to be lost in action. Clisby was buried in the military cemetery at Choloy in north-eastern France. His name appears on Supplementary Panel 12 of the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.

By the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939, Clisby was a flying officer. Five days later, No. 1 Squadron deployed to Le Havre in northern France with the RAF Advanced Air Striking Force that accompanied the British Expeditionary Force. Through the autumn and winter of 1939–40, amidst the so-called Phoney War, a succession of small and indecisive clashes took place between the Allied air forces and the Luftwaffe. Clisby achieved his first aerial victory on 1 April 1940, a Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engined fighter over Moselle. The following day in the same vicinity, he claimed a Messerschmitt Bf 109. As the Battle of France opened on 10 May, Clisby began to score heavily, estimates for his remarkable run of "kills" in the next five days ranging from eight to thirteen or more.

On 24 April 1936, Clisby was flying in formation when he encountered problems and bailed out; a subsequent inquiry found that the plane's loss was due to his lack of experience. He nevertheless graduated in 1937 and, under a pre-war arrangement between the British and Australian governments, volunteered for transfer to the Royal Air Force (RAF); he sailed for Europe that July. On 26 August, he was granted a five-year short-service commission as a pilot officer, and assigned to No. 1 Squadron at RAF Tangmere in Sussex. The unit operated the new Hawker Hurricane, a monoplane with a top speed of over 300 miles per hour (480 km/h) and four machine guns in each wing. In amongst training and an active social life, Clisby wrote to his family of a young lady back home in Adelaide becoming his fiancée.

Born in South Australia, Clisby joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a mechanic in 1935, but was later accepted for flying training. He graduated as a pilot in 1937, and chose to take a commission with the RAF. After arriving in Britain, he was assigned to No. 1 Squadron, flying the recently introduced Hawker Hurricane. Posted to France following the outbreak of World War II, he achieved his first aerial victory on 1 April 1940.

Leslie Redford (Les) Clisby, DFC (29 June 1914 – 15 May 1940) was an Australian fighter ace of World War II. Serving with the Royal Air Force (RAF), he was credited with sixteen aerial victories before being killed in action during the Battle of France. In a combat career lasting a matter of months, he was Australia's first ace of the war.

Born in McLaren Vale, South Australia, on 29 June 1914, Clisby was the second of four children to carpenter Albert Clisby and his wife Mabel, née Chapman. While attending Nailsworth Junior Technical School, Les also studied engineering in evening classes at the South Australian School of Mines and Industries in Adelaide. He joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a mechanic in 1935, but was later accepted into the flying training course at Point Cook, Victoria.