Eric William Wright


Eric William "Ricky" Wright, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force who flew Hurricanes with No. 605 Squadron in the Battle of Britain.

Early year

He was educated at Cambridge County School and the Technical College. He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in June 1939 and was called up when he had completed his training as a pilot. Once he had completed his training as a pilot he was called up into the regular air force.

Royal Air Force

Wright joined No. 605 Squadron in July 1940, and saw action during the Battle of Britain. In early September he shared in the destruction of a Messerschmitt Bf 110 and a Dornier 17. On 15 September Wright shot down a Dornier 17 over Maidstone.
By the end of the year he had accounted for six enemy aircraft, probably destroyed three more and damaged six. At the end of November he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Medal. As a sergeant pilot he was granted a commission as a pilot officer on probation on 18 December 1940.
Wright was posted to the Far East in 1941, as a flight commander in No. 232 Squadron. After the Japanese attacks on Malaya the squadron reinforced the defences at Singapore at the end of January 1942. Within a week Wright's commanding officer had been killed and Wright was promoted to squadron leader. He claimed a Japanese bomber damaged off the coast of Singapore. The squadron soon evacuated to Sumatra and then to Java. In March Wright was ordered to take his remaining pilots to Tjilatjap, ready to board a boat for Australia. On arrival however, the last boat had been sunk, and when the island fell to the Japanese a few days later Wright and his pilots were made prisoners of war.
After a period at Batavia repairing the airfield, Wright and his fellow prisoners were shipped to Japan and worked as farm labourers and in shipbuilding yards.
After the war, he was granted a permanent commission as a flight lieutenant on 19 December 1945. Wright was a member of the RAF's official aerobatic team, No. 247 Squadron flying Vampires. In April 1948 he flew one of the six Vampire F.IIIs of No 54 Squadron making the first Atlantic crossing by jet aircraft.

Honours and awards