One of the last surviving New Zealand-born Battle of Britain fighter pilots has died.
Keith Ashley Lawrence passed away on June 2 aged 96 at his home in Devon, England, where had lived since retiring in the mid-1980s.
A touching tribute to the Taranaki-born Second World War fighter ace has been published in The Telegraph.
It recalls Squadron Leader Lawrence flying a Spitfire and shooting down a number of German planes in 1940, including two Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters.
On November 27, 1940, Lawrence's Spitfire was badly damaged. He deployed his parachute to land in the sea, where he was rescued by a minesweeper.
