Hugh 'Cocky' Dundas, the modest Battle of Britain hero turned Express correspondent

As the retired RAF Group Captain and his brother John are honoured with blue plaques at their childhood home, their incredible heroism has been shared with a new generation

- Andy Saunders and Kat Hopps

FOUR years before he died aged 74 in July 1995, retired Group Captain Hugh Dundas, the former air correspondent of the Daily Express, was invited to speak about “leadership in war” at the RAF Staff College in Bracknell, Berkshire. A Spitfire pilot alongside his brother John, who was killed in action, Hugh “Cocky” Dundas had flown during the Dunkirk evacuations and the Battle of Britain before later leading a wing of fighter bomber squadrons supporting the advance of the 8th and 5th armies during the final phase of the Italian campaign.

No doubt spines tingled as he told his audience: “True courage is about overcoming and subordinating fear. That is what most people most ardently wish to be able to do when faced with battle, that is what in their hearts of hearts they find most difficult, and that is what they most want to be shown how to do by their leaders.”

The feat was something he had learned through example, from those who “were not generally the kind of men who win Victoria Crosses. The astonishing supreme act of heroism which wins that award is often a one-off, like a meteor’s swift flight and passing, but a notable leader in war has to be able to show courage continuously through long periods of hard slogging and danger”.

His words, as true today as ever, are a reminder of how the greatest heroes are not always those with the highest enemy kills — they are the modest exemplars of courage.