AS WE celebrate Remembrance Day, I would particularly like to celebrate the brave Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot who lost his life over central Bournemouth in August 1940.
Twenty two year old pilot officer Cecil Hight was shot down over the town after scrambling to attack a massive German raid of over 70 bombers and 200 fighters arriving from across the English Channel.
It is believed the mortally injured Hight desperately flew his Spitfire towards Meyrick Park Golf course in an attempt to avoid the built up area of the town.
Sadly he never made it, and was found dead in the garden of a house in Leven Avenue after bailing out at the last minute.
His aircraft crashed just yards away at the junction of Leven Avenue and Walsford Road, where the memorial to him now proudly strands (pictured).
Hight is also remembered in West Howe where the local authority named Pilot Hight Road in celebration of his bravery.
Roger Hopkins
Roslin Gardens
Talbot Woods
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