Perry Robert St. Quintin

RAF S/L

Unbelievably, 9 kills but no DFC

Born in 1913 in Salisbury, Rhodesia.
Son of Noel St Quintin and Lillian Mary St Quintin.
Husband of Pauline Dorothy St Quintin.
Father of Jane, Howard & David.
Home there (now Salisbury, Mashonaland, Zimbabwe)
He could already fly when he joined the RAF in 1939.
Graded a Pilot Officer, 4 April 1939.
Flew with 33 Squadron in Egypt alongside "Pat" Pattle, "Woody" Woodward, "Timber" Woods and the like.
33 Squadron withdrew from Greece in April 1941.
He then did ferry duty at Takoradi for three months.
Then a posting as a test pilot in Sudan followed.
Made Flight Lieutenant on 4 April 1942.
Back home to Rhodesia in 1943.
There he instructed at Belveder.
Made Squadron Leader (temp), 1 July 1944.
Then back to the UK at the end of 1944 to resume combat flying.
He joined 56 Squadron, in Holland flying Tempests, as an extra Squadron Leader.
He claimed two more enemy aircraft destroyed with that unit before VE Day.

After the war he left the RAF and returned to Rhodesia to become a Magistrate.
He quit that and became Chief Pilot for CAA (Central African Airways) in 1946.
(London Gazette of 13 January 1948 states his commission (F/L operating as a temporary S/L) in the RAF has been relinquished on his reversion to the Southern Rhodesian Forces on 19 March 1946)
He died on 29 March 1953 when a bolt in the Vickers Viking (VP-YEV) he was piloting broke, causing it to crash on the East African coast (Pangani, Tanga, Tanzania). There were no survivors.

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London Gazette, 8 September 1939

Acting pilot Officer on probation Perry Robert St. Quintin (40946) is confirmed in his appointment and graded as Pilot Officer, 4th April 1939.
(Substituted for notification in Gazette of 9th June1939).

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"B" Flight of 33 Squadron at Fuka, Egypt. From the left: unidentified, (hidden), F/O C. H. Dyson DFC, F/O P. R. St.Quintin, F/O H. J. Starret, F/L G. E. Hawkins, Sgt J. Craig (?), F/O J. F. Mackie, F/O V. C. Woodward & S/L Charles Ryley (the CO). If anyone can positively identify any of these men, please email me because confidence is low.

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Supplement to the London Gazette, 21 July 1944

Flt. Lt. to Sqn. Ldr. (temp.):- 1st July 1944

P. R. St. Quintin (40946)

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Victories Include :

31 Oct 1940

11 Dec 1940
date unknown
date unknown

11 Dec 1944

22 Feb 1945

one S79
one S79
one Ba65
two S79s
3 CR42s

one Me109

one FW190

destroyed &
probable
destroyed
destroyed
destroyed

destroyed [1]

destroyed [2]

9 / 1 / 0

In Aces High they say he may have four probables but there are no details as 33 Squadron records were
destroyed when they left Greece.

[1][2] Visit this page at wwiiaircraftperformance.org to read his combat reports for these engagements.

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Thanks go out to

son Dave for the photos & infos !

On these pages I use Hugh Halliday's extensive research which includes info from numerous sources; newspaper articles via the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (CMCC); the Google News Archives; the London Gazette Archives and other sources both published and private.

Some content on this site is probably the property of acesofww2.com unless otherwise noted.