Nickname(s) Andy Name Andrew Mamedoff Service/branch Royal Air Force | Years of service 1940–1941 Rank Flight lieutenant Service number 81621 | |
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Born 12 August 1912
Thompson, Connecticut ( 1912-08-12 ) Battles/wars World War II
Battle of Britain Died October 8, 1941, Maughold, Isle of Man Place of burial Brookwood Cemetery, Brookwood, United Kingdom Battles and wars Battle of Britain, World War II Unit No. 609 Squadron RAF, No. 71 Squadron RAF, No. 133 Squadron RAF | ||
Allegiance France
United Kingdom | ||
Flight lieutenant Andrew Beck Mamedoff (12 August 1912 – 8 October 1941), known as Andy, was an American pilot who flew with the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain in World War II. He was one of 11 American pilots who flew with RAF Fighter Command between 10 July and 31 October 1940, thereby qualifying for the Battle of Britain clasp to the 1939–45 campaign star.
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Biography
Born in Thompson, Connecticut, where his White Russian family had settled in the early 1910s. Interestingly, it is believed that he was Jewish of Russian heritage. Mamedoff attended Bryant College in the early 1930s.
He had learned to fly in the USA and even had his own plane with which he performed at airshows. He and Eugene Tobin had been flying friends at Mines Field in California before the war. He was attempting to set up charter services in Miami immediately prior to the war. Mamedoff initially came to Europe to fight on the side of Finland against the Soviet Union, but hostilities had ceased before he arrived.
In 1941 Mamedoff married an English woman, Alys Laird "Penny" Mamedoff (née Craven) at Epping. He became the first of the Americans to take a war bride during World War II.
Second World War
He joined the French Air Force towards the end of the Battle of France, but as France fell he came to England with his friends and fellow Americans Eugene Tobin and Vernon Keogh and joined the Royal Air Force in 1940.
After converting to the Spitfire, Mamedoff was posted to RAF Middle Wallop and joined No. 609 Squadron on 8 August 1940.
He was posted to RAF Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire on 18 September 1940 and was a founding member of the No. 71 'Eagle' Squadron along with Art Donahue, Eugene Tobin and Vernon Keogh. He was posted to RAF Duxford in August 1941 to another "Eagle Squadron", No. 133 Squadron as a Flight Commander.
Death
On 8 October 1941, Mamedoff was flying with 133 Squadron on a standard transit flight from Fowlmere Airfield to RAF Eglinton in Northern Ireland in his Hurricane Z3781. The wreckage of his plane was found near Maughold on the Isle of Man and it is thought that he crashed due to poor weather conditions. His body was later recovered for burial at Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey.