"ONE of the last of "The Few" - Battle of Britain hero Nigel Rose - has died aged 99, his family revealed today. The Squadron Leader, who shot down four German planes, also survived being attacked by a Messerschmitt 110 over the Channel. He later said the dogfight had "made rather a mess of the Spitfire", adding: "At first I thought I had to get out. I put the hood back, undid the straps and got my feet up on the seat. "But then I decided that I could get back. I managed that and landed with no brakes, flaps or radio." He later told the RAF Benevolent Fund that the Spitfire was "something out of this world". He said: "It was a beautiful aircraft to fly. It had no bad habits, it had its own personality, and as some people have said once you were sitting in the cockpit and strapped in, you felt part of it and it felt part of you." His daughter, best-selling novelist Barbara Erskine said he was modest and reticent to the point of not claiming his combat hits. She consulted him when she wrote her novel "The Darkest Hour" about the experiences and emotions of a wartime pilot. She said: "At first dad was reluctant, terribly modest, but in the end he happily recalled his experiences which helped me enormously with the tome and of which he was terribly proud." After the war Sqn Ldr Rose became a chartered surveyor and settled in Hay-on-Wye in Breconshire." Battle of Britain hero and one of the last of 'The Few' Nigel Rose dies aged 99
99...the war must seem a long time ago. That man had seen a lot! The human world is lesser for his passing. RIP
