Wing Commander Paddy Finucane (Brendan Finucane) R.A.F., D.S.O., D.F.C.: A Memoir
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Known amongst his colleagues as “Paddy,” Finucane was credited with 28 aerial victories—five probably destroyed, six shared destroyed, one shared probable victory, and eight damaged—and was also noted for being the youngest person ever given command of a fighter wing in the history of aerial combat, namely the Hornchurch Wing.
“IF SOMEONE asked me to describe Wing Commander Brendan Finucane R.A.F. in two words, I would say “bright and shining.” He seemed always to radiate light and lift of the spirit—his frequent smile, the way the corners of his generously drawn mouth went up—his witty friendly eyes—even his crisp dark red hair seemed always lifted by a breeze from “the upper air” he loved so well, the upper air in which from his eighteenth birthday until the day of July seventeenth, nineteen hundred and forty-two, he spent the greater part of his waking life. This smiling friendliness, this winning manner, caused him to be known as “Paddy” to all the world.”—JAMES REYNOLDS
James Reynolds
James Reynolds (October 22, 1891 - July 21, 1957) was an Irish-American writer of non-fiction and short fiction stories. He was also a talented painter and expert horseman. Born in Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York, he began his career as a Broadway designer in 1920, when he was especially sought after for musicals, operettas and revues, including the 1921-1923 editions of Ziegfeld Follies, Dearest Enemy (1925) and The Vagabond King (1925). He was also involved in a number of non-musical works, including These Charming People (1925), The Royal Family (1927) and Coming of Age (1934). Reynolds abandoned his designer career in the 1930s in order to turn to writing and painting full-time. He was also a talented horseman. His numerous published titles include Wing Commander Paddy Finucane (Brendan Finucane) R.A.F., D.S.O., D.F.C.: A Memoir (1942); A World of Horses (1950); Ghosts in American Houses (1955); and many other titles. James Reynolds died in Como, Lombardia, Italy in 1957 at the age of 65.
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Wing Commander Paddy Finucane (Brendan Finucane) R.A.F., D.S.O., D.F.C. - James Reynolds
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Text originally published in 1942 under the same title.
© Arcole Publishing 2017, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Publisher’s Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
WING COMMANDER PADDY FINUCANE
(BRENDAN FINUCANE)
R.A.F., D.S.O., D.F.C.
A MEMOIR
by
JAMES REYNOLDS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 5
DEDICATION 6
ICARUS 7
WING COMMANDER PADDY FINUCANE 8
PADDY’S
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY 30
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 32
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To the British Information Services of New York for much courteous cooperation
* * * * *
To Martin Seeker of London, for permission to print Maurice Baring’s sonnet Icarus.
DEDICATION
TO
AVIATION-CADET GURDON WOODS
for days spent roaming
the American continent.
ICARUS
Here fell the daring Icarus in his prime,
He who was brave enough to scale the skies;
And here bereft of plumes his body lies,
Leaving the valiant envious of that climb.
O rare performance of a soul sublime,
That with small loss such great advantage buys!
Happy mishap! fraught with so rich a prize,
That bids the vanquished triumph over time.
So new a path his youth did not dismay,
His wings but not his noble heart said nay;
He had the glorious sun for funeral fire;
He died upon a high adventure bent;
The sea his grave, his goal the firmament.
Great is the tomb, but greater the desire.
MAURICE BARING
WING COMMANDER PADDY FINUCANE
[BRENDAN FINUCANE]
R.A.F., D.S.O., D.F.C.
IF SOMEONE asked me to describe Wing Commander Brendan Finucane R.A.F. in two words, I would say bright and shining.
He seemed always to radiate light and lift of the spirit—his frequent smile, the way the corners of his generously drawn mouth went up—his witty friendly eyes—even his crisp dark red hair seemed always lifted by a breeze from the upper air
he loved so well, the upper air in which from his eighteenth birthday until the day of July seventeenth, nineteen hundred and forty-two, he spent the greater part of his waking life. This smiling friendliness, this winning manner, caused him to be known as Paddy
to all the world.
I first met Paddy in nineteen hundred and thirty-six when he was nearing his sixteenth birthday. A Saturday picnic it was, held on a rise of the Hill of Howth which commands the grandly sweeping panorama of the Wicklow Mountains, the gleaming white houses of Dalkey Strand, even the foam-ruffled edge of Killiney Bay itself where it curves in from the sea the like of a Saracen’s sword.
The picnic was an outing for boys from O’Connell School in