Each year on September 13, readers around the world celebrate Roald Dahl Day in honor of the beloved British author whose imagination gave life to Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and countless other classics. Beyond his career as a storyteller, Dahl also lived through extraordinary real-life adventures – including his time as a Royal Air Force pilot in Greece during World War II.
According to an article by Pierre Kosmidis in ww2wrecks.com, Dahl served during the final chaotic days of the German invasion of Greece and was among the few survivors of the Battle of Athens on April 20, 1941 – the same dogfight that claimed the life of legendary RAF ace Pat Pattle. He later recounted these experiences in his memoir Going Solo.
“To some extent I was aware of the military mess I had flown in to… But once the Germans decided to take over, the situation immediately became hopeless.”
Dahl described taking off from Elefsina with eleven other Hurricanes led by Flight-Lieutenant Pattle:
“On 20 April 1941, on a golden springtime morning at ten o’clock, all twelve of us took off one after the other and got into a tight formation over Elevsis airfield. Then we headed for Athens, which was no more than four minutes’ flying time away.”
The battle that followed was fierce, with hundreds of German fighters overwhelming the small RAF squadron.
“They got five of our twelve Hurricanes in that battle. Among the dead was the great Pat Pattle, all his lucky lives used up at last.”
Source: ww2wrecks.com
