It was Tuesday, 17 October 1939. Britain had been at war with Germany for more than amonth and for only the second time the Luftwaffe had dared to enter British airspace –and at last James ‘Jim’ Bazin’s chance had come.

After joining the Auxiliary Air Force in 1935, Jim was an experienced pilot when war brokeout and he was eager to test his skills against the enemy. This first combat was the startof a career which saw Wing Commander Bazin, as he was to become, being posted toFrance with 607 (County of Durham) Squadron. He fought there until the last days of theBattle of France. He was also shot down behind enemy lines, but successfully evadedcapture to return to his squadron and resume the fight.

There was no respite for Bazin. Playing a major part in re-building 607 Squadron, he wasonce again defending Britain’s skies in his trusty Hurricane as the Luftwaffe sought todestroy Fighter Command in the summer of 1940. With ten kills to his name, he hadbattled his way to becoming an ace and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross inOctober that year. But merely driving off the Luftwaffe was not enough for him. Now aWing Commander, he was posted to Inverness where he served as a Controller in 14Group’s Operations Room, which gave him a taste for offensive operations.

In time, Bazin was one of a small number of fighter pilots who volunteered to move toBomber Command. He duly undertook a conversion course in 1943, eventually joining 49Squadron as a Lancaster pilot to take the war to the very heart of the enemy.

After flying with 49 Squadron in Bomber Command’s support of the D-Day Landings, Bazin,now commanding 9 Squadron and operating alongside the Dambusters, led many daylightattacks on special targets such as U-boat pens, refineries, viaducts and, most notably, thesuccessful attacks on Hitler’s great battleship Tirpitz.

Unrelenting in his efforts against the enemy, Jim Bazin was involved in operations againsttargets in Poland and Germany right up until the end of the war. This culminated in the lastmajor RAF operation of the Second World War when, on 25 April 1945, Bomber Commandattacked the Berghof, Hitler’s Alpine retreat, and other targets in Berchtesgaden. Jim Bazinwas awarded the DSO in September 1945 – rightful recognition for a man who had doneso much to bring about the defeat of the enemy.