A Belgian Pilot’s Unlikely Path to the RAF
From history’s deadliest air raid, to a one-man raid, totally unauthorized. It was conducted in WWII by Baron Jean Michel de Selys Longchamps, a Belgian aristocrat who flew for Britain’s Royal Air Force. He earned his place in history for a solo raid against the Gestapo’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The man had a beef with the Gestapo that went beyond the common detestation most people had for that organization, in that it was quite personal. He happened to have a formidable attack airplane, a Hawker Typhoon, and decided to use it to put some hurt on Germany’s dreaded secret police. His route to the RAF was a convoluted and unlikely one.
Early in the war, Longchamps was drafted into the Belgian Army, and was commissioned as a cavalry officer. Belgium fared poorly when the Germans attacked it in the spring of 1940, and the country was swiftly overrun. Longchamps was evacuated alongside British troops from Dunkirk, but immediately returned to France to continue the fight. The French surrendered soon after his return. He tried to rejoin the Allies, but was arrested by the French collaborationist Vichy authorities, and interned. Longchamps fled, made his way to Spain, and from there, managed to get to Britain. He wanted to fly for the RAF, but at age 28, he was too old for flight training. So he lied about his age. Training over, he was assigned to No. 609 Squadron, and soon established a reputation as an aggressive Hawker Typhoon pilot.