Personality profile
Maidstone
to more advanced flying training in Derbyshire. Once completed Jimmy was posted to No. 66 Squadron which was then stationed at Kenley in Surrey and in the thick of the Battle of Britain. Further moves to Biggin Hill and West Malling plus a change to No. 610 (County of Chester) Auxiliary Squadron came as the battle reached its climax.
By 1941 Jimmy became what was termed ‘tour
expired’ and was sent to instruct new pilots in Wales. In 1942 he was sent overseas to carry on his war in North Africa. He survived and obtained the rank of Flight Lieutenant together with the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for a very impressive score of enemy aircraft destroyed and damaged. Leaving the RAF in 1946 he returned to teaching and meeting Jeanne in the Queen’s Head in Maidstone, married her in 1955 and raised a family. They continue to live in Maidstone and it was at their delightful bungalow that I recently interviewed Jimmy.
He admitted that he had been
very lucky in his flying career when he had seen many of his
friends and fellow airmen die in combat. Always one to speak his mind he stated that possibly the thought of the enemy invading his home town of Maidstone urged him to be better than his German counterpart. “ It was when you saw an ME109 on your a---se that you pushed the throttle through its gauge and turned to get on his tail”. He further stated that “ after the war I thought a lot about those poor men who were little more than boys and whose short lives had ended so violently and so abruptly. With very little experience we climbed into our Spitfires and went to war. No questions asked, we just did it”.
This page: (clockwise from top left), Jimmy with his wife Jeanne; a proud Freeman of the Borough after being presented with his scroll; Flight Lt Jimmy Corbin DFC; Jimmy wears his medals
Mid Kent Living 5
justly rewarded its pilot hero by conferring the Freedom of the Borough upon him followed by the unveiling of a plaque to his exploits at his first local school, St Michael’s. No longer able to play his favourite game, golf, he still frequents the club house where he can be found taking a tipple for ‘medicinal purposes’. Jimmy Corbin is our local hero and will always continue to be so.
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