70th Death Anniversary of Wing Commander Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane

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Wing Commander Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane (16 October 1920 - 15 July 1942)

I'm not sure when or how I first came to know of Brendan Finucane, one of the greatest 'aces' in the Royal Air Force during World War II and whose 70th death anniversary occurs on Sunday. Maybe it was in reading English 'comics' when I was in primary school. Weeklies such as The Rover, Adventure, The Hotspur, The Wizard,  featured adventure stories for boys and sometimes had real-life stories. My Uncle Joe Kiernan drove a delivery van for Easons newsagents in Dublin and kept me well supplied.

At some stage I discovered that this airman, known in England as 'Paddy', had become the youngest ever Wing Commander - equivalent to Lieutenant colonel - in the RAF and that he had studied in the same school as myself, O'Connell Christian Brothers' School, Dublin. By the time I began in secondary school there (I was in primary from 1951 to 1956 and in secondary from then till 1961) I heard his name being mentioned from time to time in the school. He had left in 1936 when his family moved to England and he joined the RAF two years later. Among his classmates in O'Connell's were two famous sports commentators, Mícheál O’Hehir and Philip Greene. Philip died only last year.

Full post here.

Comments

  1. Steve Finnell9:09 pm, July 11, 2012

    you are invited to follow my blog

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:08 pm, September 09, 2012

    A wonderful post Fr Sean, introducing me to one of the Few id never heard of before.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fr Seán Coyle9:40 pm, September 11, 2012

    Thank you, Marion.

    ReplyDelete

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