225115 Richard Playne Stevens Royal Air Force 253 Squadron (d.15th Dec 1941) Since reading, 'Johnnie' Johnson's book "Wing Leader", I have been fascinated by the story surrounding Flt. Lt. Richard Playne Stevens, 253 Squadron, RAF pilot. JJ speaks highly of him in his book and the great man himself, Dougie Bader, has referred to him, yet little is known of the man. I have found a few tidbits which reveal the death of his baby daughter in a house fire and that Stevens, for obvious reasons, took it very badly. Following this tragedy, it is said that he would scream like a man possessed when engaging the enemy during his time as a night fighter pilot and that he scored a very high tally against enemy aircraft without using any of the emerging technology at that time. One tale reveals that he got so close to an exploding Heinkel He 111 he was attacking, that ground crew found human remains and blood on the fuselage of his Hurricane after the sortie and he made them leave it on his aircraft. Whilst posted to 253 Squadron, Stevens set out to attack an airfield in Holland, Hulten near Grize- Rijen, on the 15th of December 1941, from Hibaldstow. He crashed near the Dutch airfield at 21:30 hrs that night and his remains were interred in the local cemetery at Bergen op Zoom and re-interred after the war at the CWWG site at Zuilen. If you know any more about this individual or the aircraft he flew I would appreciate it if you could forward information on to me. It is a tragic but fascinating story.
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