Flight Lieutenant ANDREW B. MAMEDOFF, 133 (Eagle) Sqdn., RAFVR - An American 'Eagle'

When Andrew ‘Andy’ Mamedoff came to Britain in 1940, the United States was still officially neutral in the Second World War. Mamedoff had been born in Warsaw in 1912 and grew up thousands of miles away in Thompson, Connecticut. He attended Bryant College, where he was remembered as a lively character, and developed a passion for flying. Before the war, he owned his own aircraft, performed at air shows and tried to establish himself in commercial aviation.

When war broke out in Europe, Mamedoff wanted to take part. He first travelled across the Atlantic intending to fly for Finland. But by the time he reached Europe in early 1940, the Winter War had ended. He then volunteered for the French Air Force alongside two other young American pilots, Eugene ‘Red’ Tobin and Vernon ‘Shorty’ Keough. Mamedoff and Eugene “Red” Tobin were already flying friends at Mines Field in California before either came to Europe. However France was collapsing under the German invasion before the three men could properly enter the fight.

They escaped and made their way to Britain. Here, they joined the Royal Air Force.

Mamedoff was sent to No. 609 Squadron in August 1940 and began flying Spitfires during the Battle of Britain. He was one of the small number of Americans who fought with RAF Fighter Command during that crucial summer. The RAF Museum also records him as one of 34 Jewish pilots who served in the battle.

The danger was immediate. On 24 August, Mamedoff's Spitfire was badly damaged by enemy fire during combat with German fighters. He survived. Within weeks, however, he, Tobin and Keough were given a new role. They became the first pilots to arrive for the newly formed No. 71 Squadron, the first of the famous American-manned ‘Eagle Squadrons’.

The three friends had travelled to Europe together, joined the RAF together and fought in the Battle of Britain together. Their RAF service numbers were even consecutive: Keough 81620, Mamedoff 81621 and Tobin 81622. Keough disappeared during a flying operation in February 1941. Tobin was killed fighting German aircraft over France that September. By then, Mamedoff had become an experienced fighter pilot. He was promoted and transferred to No. 133 Squadron, another Eagle Squadron, as a flight commander.

There was happiness in Mamedoff's final weeks. In late summer 1941 he married English woman: Alys Laird ‘Penny’ Craven in Epping, Essex. He was 29 years old and had survived more than a year of wartime flying.

Quoted from Vern Haugland's The Eagle Squadrons, pp. 58?-59

"Shortly before leaving 71 Squadron for his new assignment with 133, Andy Mamedoff had become the first of the Eagles to take a war bride, Penny Craven, a member of the Craven cigarette family. Best man Vic Bono suggested to the squadron that since most of the pilots were on readiness and unable to leave the base for a social occasion, they might take their Hurricanes up and honor the couple with a fly-past right after the church ceremony at Epping.

"Two of the pilots, Bill Geiger and Ed Bateman, flew over the little town first. The bridal party rushed out from the inn where Robbie Robinson, 71 Squadron intelligence officer, was host at the luncheon. The other pilots came thundering over minutes a few minutes later."

"'It was a market day,' Bono recalled. 'Never before had planes flown over at such a low altitude. Pigs and lambs scattered everywhere, leaving the marketplace a wreck.'"

Then, on 8 October 1941, Mamedoff took off in Hurricane Z3781. No. 133 Squadron was moving from Fowlmere in England to Eglinton in Northern Ireland.

The weather deteriorated badly over the Irish Sea. His aircraft crashed near Maughold on the Isle of Man. Three other American pilots from No. 133 Squadron, Hugh McCall, Roy Stout and William White, were also killed on the island that day. Mamedoff had survived German fighters and the Battle of Britain, only to lose his life during a routine flight in terrible weather.

His body was recovered and brought back to England.

Today, Flight Lieutenant Andrew B. Mamedoff, service number 81621, lies in grave 21.A.7 at Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey. He is far from the Connecticut town where he grew up, but he rests among the men and women for whom Britain had become a battlefield and, for many, their final home.

At the bottom of his CWGC headstone are five simple words: “LOVE ALWAYS. PENNY AND MIMI” They are a reminder that behind the uniform, the Spitfires and the famous Eagle Squadron was a 29-year-old man. A son. A new husband. A friend. Andy Mamedoff crossed an ocean to fight a war his own country had not yet entered. He did not live to see America join that war just two months later.