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Paul Chester Jerome Brickhill joined 92 Squadron on 8th December 1942
extract of an Obituary published online by Craig Wilcox
Paul Chester Jerome Brickhill (1916–1991), writer and air force officer, was born on 20 December 1916 at Balwyn, Melbourne, third of five sons of Tasmanian-born parents George Russell Brickhill, journalist, and his wife Izitella Victoria, née Bradshaw. After the family moved to Sydney, Paul attended North Sydney Boys’ High School and then enrolled as an evening student at the University of Sydney.
Brickhill enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 6 January 1941. After attending flying training schools in Australia and Canada under the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was commissioned as a pilot officer on 1 September. Posted to Britain that month, he served as a fighter pilot with the Royal Air Force (RAF). On 1 March 1942 he was promoted to flying officer and on 17 March 1943, while piloting a Spitfire over Tunisia, was shot down. Taken prisoner, he was sent to Stalag Luft III in Germany. There he gathered stories of combat and capture from other pilots. He assisted in an elaborate but failed attempt at a mass breakout in March 1944, although claustrophobia prevented him from entering the escape tunnel.
Demobbed 8 April 1946 as a F/Lt.
