KD658/115, as flown by Robert Hampton "Hammy" Gray VC DSC. no.1841 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, flying off HMS Formidible as part of the British Pacific Fleet 1945.
Gray joined the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1940 and went on to fly Hurricanes out of Tanga and Mombasa and later joined 1841 NAS on HMS Formidible.
Having seen action against the German battleship Turpitz, Grey was mentioned in dispatches for his skill and courage in 1944.
A year later he was still with HMS Formidible, but this time in Tokyo Bay, July 1945. One month later, Gray was to be killed in action whilst attacking and sinking a Japanese destroyer, his heavily damaged aircraft last seen crashing into the sea. Gray was posthumously awarded the VC for his gallantry and bravery, which was also recognised by the Japanese, who dedicated a memorial to him at Onagawa Wan, Honshu (the only such dedication to a foreign combatant to be found on Japanese soil).
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