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From links on the right ...
Harry Arthur Robert Prowse (OE1932-39) joined the RAF straight after school, where he was a scholar, a musician and an actor, his final performance being in “Saint Joan” in the Winter of 1938. When he died aged 89 the obituary in The Guardian noted “As a handsome Spitfire pilot, he rarely had to buy his own drinks. But at the age of 19, he was fighting in the Battle of Britain, and by the time he was 20 he had been shot down twice, interrogated by the Gestapo and shipped off to the notorious Stalag Luft III PoW camp”.
After being shot down for the first time in northern France Harry escaped back to England. However, after shooting down two Messerschmitt Bf-109s he was himself shot down on 4 July 1941 by none other than Luftwaffe ace Josef “Pips” Priller, who was later depicted in the film The Longest Day.
Like many others Harry found it difficult to talk about his wartime experiences. After surviving a forced march through Poland in January 1945 he arrived back in the UK around VE Day. He rejoined the RAF after the war, however, he found it difficult to settle in the UK and emigrated to Brazil to grow oranges, where he remained until his death. At his funeral, the Brazilian Air Force staged a fly-past.
Second image shows Prowse with the German ace (right) who shot him down (see links for details).
