Flying Officer J Ing
John Ing
- Rank
- Flying Officer
- Squadron
- No 150 Squadron
- School
- Michaelhouse, Glenwood High School
- Fate
- Killed in action, 14 May 1940
From the book
Links of Long Standing
The SAAF Development Programme’s prewar demise influenced many young South Africans including WI Deas, PG Dexter, GJ Drake, J Falkson, AC Hamman, PH Hugo, O Hume, J Ing, AG Lewis, N Lewis, LA Lynn, Spencer Peacock -Edwards, SR Whiting and GM Wright while 26-year-old Michaelhouse educated Guy Paul Wentworth Austin arrived in England on the day war was declared, commissioned as an “acting Pilot on probation” in January 1940 and lost his life 10 months later in a No 9 Squadron Wellington shot down over Germany.
The First Ten Months
Political machinations in the House of Commons were however of little interest to the RAF pilots in France waiting to engage the enemy after 8 months of inactivity, including No 150 Squadron Fairey Battle pilots, Michaelhouse educated Flying Officer Spencer Peacock- Edwards and Flying Officer John Ing who was educated at Michaelhouse and Glenwood Boys High in Durban.
The First Ten Months
More than 100 RAF Command aircrew were posted “Missing” and 42 aircraft lost that day and during the next four days, over 200 Fairey Battle, Blenheim and Hurricane airmen lost their lives. Flying Officer John Ing, his Fairey Battle crew and eleven squadron colleagues were among 51 aircrew killed on May 14th when 40 Fairey Battles were shot down over the Sedan. No 110 Squadron Blenheim pilot Flying Officer Gordon Wright from the Eastern Cape survived being down and became a “POW”.
The Dreaded Telegram
Weekly issues of “The London Gazette”, first published in 1665, announced British military appointments, awards and promotions during the Second World War. South African airmen were a fractional percentage of the announcements. The 1938 January 25th and June 14th issues included Oliver Carlisle Hume, Norman Leonard Lewis, John Ing and Harold Rosofsky. By sad coincidence, all early casualties. Eighteen-year-old Hume from Port Elizabeth and Lewis, who was from Johannesburg, commissioned as “acting Pilot Officers on probation” in January with service numbers 40394 and 40399.