The Airmen's Stories - F/O D H Grice

Wing Commander (Flying Officer during the Battle) Douglas ‘Grubby’ Grice, who has died aged 79, destroyed sufficient enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain to be rated an ace and was shot down three times during the six weeks' fighting.

On August 15 1940, having already notched up some eight "kills", Grice was flying "arse-end Charlie" (rear guard) of 10 Hurricanes of No 32 Squadron, intercepting enemy raiders making for the port of Harwich. He had just reported a group of Me110 fighters flying in a defensive circle overhead when an incendiary bullet flashed over his left wrist and into the instrument panel. Piercing the fuel tank behind the instrument panel, the incendiary set the Hurricane on fire. Grice was engulfed in flames and, as the fighter turned over, fell out. "I remembered my parachute drill and waited a second or two before pulling the rip cord" he recalled "I was relieved to see land but an offshore breeze carried me out over the sea".

Once down, having disentangled himself from the parachute rigging lines and inflated his Mae West, he waved at a trawler. Knowing that there was an air-sea rescue launch on the way, the vessel's crew did not respond. Although Grice was unaware of it at the time, his prolonged dip in the sea was a boon: the "briney" aided the healing process of the burns Grice had suffered to the face and the wrists. Sir Archibald McIndoe, the celebrated RAF consultant in plastic surgery, gave Grice the good news: "You're a lucky chap, because you are going to look handsome again without any help from me. I won't need a piece of your bottom for skin grafting. Thanks to you and others rescued from the sea we have discovered that a brine bath is the best treatment for a bad burns case".

Douglas Hamilton Grice was born at Wallasey, Cheshire on June 19 1919 - the day on which Alcock and Brown made the first successful trans-Atlantic flight. Deprived by ill health of a formal education, young Douglas was tutored privately. Subsequently, after a spell as a machine-gunner in the Artists Rifles, he was granted a RAF short service commission in December 1937. During flying training, Grice - for no obvious reason - was dubbed "Grubby", and the nickname stuck.

In September 1938 he joined No 32 Squadron, equipped with Gloster Gauntlet biplane fighters. Not long afterwards, at Biggin Hill, he was heartened by the arrival of thoroughly modern eight-gun Hawker Hurricanes. As France fell in the early summer of 1940, Grice, using Abbeville as a forward base, was in combat over the retreating British Expeditionary Force. On June 6 he was crossing the French coast when he saw a gaggle of Heinkel 111 bombers. But before he could engage, he was attacked by four Me109’s. "I let them get within 500 yards or so" he said "and then did an Immelman turn - a half loop and roll off the top - so that I could meet them head on ". After shaking off the fighters Grice attacked the German bombers until return fire badly damaged his Hurricane and wrecked his engine. After gliding 15 miles he belly-landed in a field near Rouen. He hitched a lift with a passing RAF padre to an airfield at Dreux, from where he was dispatched home, making a stopover on Jersey, as a passenger in a de Havilland Dragon Rapide.

Back at Biggin he learned he had been awarded a DFC.

Once operational again, Grice was briefed on the morning of June 27 to escort Bristol Blenheim bombers on a mission. On his return he and his fellow pilot Jimmy Davies (who would later be shot down and killed) were decorated by King George VI. On July 4 Grice was brought down for the second time. He was patrolling with 32 Squadron over Deal when he was attacked by three 109’s. "There was a loud bang and the controls suddenly felt slack. I switched off and belly--landed, not far from Sandwich golf course". To his astonishment Grice was greeted by an Army officer who had served with him as a private in the Artists Rifles.

After being shot down for the third time and recovery in hospital, Grice served briefly as a "Jim Crow" at Gravesend. This entailed observing and reporting enemy formations. Finding that his nerve had deserted him, Grice was then invited by his namesake Group Captain Dickie Grice, Biggin Hill station commander, to return as an operations room controller. This enabled him to further his romance with Pam Beecroft, a Biggin WAAF cypher officer, whom he married in October 1941. Following further fighter controller and staff appointments, Grice, by then a wing commander, resigned his commission in 1947.

Married and with young children, Grice served articles with the London firm of solicitors Gamlen, Bowerman & Forward. In 1951 he joined McKenna & Co, becoming a partner of the firm within a year.
Grice specialised in work for the construction industry and counted Taylor Woodrow among his clients. He retired in 1982.

Thereafter Grice devoted much time to his garden at Hunters Green, Chalfont St Giles. He also bought an electric organ and taught himself to play it.

In addition to winning a DFC, Grubby Grice was twice mentioned in despatches. He was appointed MBE in 1946. He and his wife had a son and a daughter.