David Coke
David Arthur Coke, DFC, was a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War, and is credited with two destroyed, two probables, and two damaged aircraft during his service. He is known in popular culture for his friendship with the author Roald Dahl while serving in the Royal Air Force.Early life and family
The second son of Thomas Coke, 4th Earl of Leicester and Marion Gertrude, Coke was godson of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge.Coke joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in June 1939, the summer before war broke out, and attended No. 5 Operational Training Unit in April 1940. He was promoted to the rank of acting pilot officer on 3 September 1940. By August 1940 he flew a Hawker Hurricane with No. 257 Squadron RAF during the Battle of Britain as a pilot officer. On 12 August 1940, his Hurricane was badly shot up over the English Channel off Portsmouth. His finger was amputated and the aircraft was repaired. Posted to 46 Squadron in December 1940, Coke was then promoted to flying officer.
He went on to fight in the Balkans campaign with No. 33 Squadron and the Syria–Lebanon campaign with No. 80 Squadron RAF. During this period with No. 80 squadron, he became friends with famed author Roald Dahl, as detailed in Dahl's autobiography Going Solo.
While serving in Libya, Coke was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his work in an attack on enemy transport and for his leadership as a flight lieutenant. The citation read:
Coke was killed in action by enemy Bf 109s in Acroma, Cyrenaica, Africa on Tuesday 9 December 1941, five days after his twenty-sixth birthday, and buried at Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya.
