The Pilot in the Poster

Peter Parrot left school in 1936 aged just 16. In january 1940, aged 19 and a fully qualified pilot, he was posted to northern France to join 607 squadron in Vitry-en-Artois. War had been declared September 1939 but Hitler delayed taking action through the bitter winter that followed, before invading the Low Countries. The period up to May 1940 is known as the"phoney war" because nothing much was happening but there were any number of reporters and press photographers waiting for the war to begin. One day, as Peter was going out to his aircraft, an official photographer dropped to one knee and asked him to look up so that he could take his photograph. Four of the 607 Squadron pilots were subsequently featured in an article in the Daily Sketch of the 14th March 1940. By May 1940 Peter was flying in combat, flying Hurricanes during the Battle For France. When he returned to England he discovered that his photograph had been used on recruiting leaflets and a poster that, to his embarrassment, was plastered everywhere. Peter Parrot died in 2003 and this biography has been compiled using autobiographical material, Peter's logbooks and anecdotal family memories.