Bunny Currant

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Bunny Currant
Bunny Currant

Wing Commander Christopher Frederick "Bunny" Currant DSO DFC & Bar (14 December 1911 - 12 March 2006) was a British fighter ace.

Currant was born in Luton, Bedfordshire. Aged 25 he joined the Royal Air Force in 1936; after qualifying as a pilot he joined No 46 Squadron as a Sergeant pilot; he was later commissioned and served with 605 squadron at Drem on the Firth of Forth.

In the second week of The Battle of France in May 1940, his squadron was moved down to Hawkinge in Kent; from here the squadron flew sorties in France where enemy aircraft were attacking the retreating British Expeditionary Force.

On one early sortie the engine on his Hawker Hurricane failed, forcing him to crash land in a field and he was forced to make his own way to Calais where he managed to get a lift on board a vessel back to England.

605 squadron was then moved back to Drem where it took part in the interception of the famous Luftflotte 5 raid which took place on the 15 August. Currant claimed two He 111's shot down. The squadron was again moved south again - this time to Croydon and was soon in the midst of the heaviest fighting in September 1940.

Currant's tally of enemy aircraft rose steadily and on the 15 September alone, he had accounted for 2 Dornier DO17s, an ME109 and damaged another three DO17s as well as a Heinkel III. By the end of 1940 his tally stood at 8 and 5 shared destroyed, and he was awarded the DFC and Bar in consecutive months.

Currant then had a spell as the chief flying instructor of 52 OTU at Debden; this was followed by the command of Spitfire Squadron No. 501 in August 1941. It was at this time that he played himself in the film "The First of the Few" which starred David Niven.

He commanded the Spitfires of the Ibsley Wing from June until August 1942. It was at this time that he was also awarded the DSO. At this time he was mainly involved in operations over occupied France and the low countries. He was allowed a break from fighting and undertook a four month lecturing tour in Eastern America and upon his return he went to 84 Group Control Centre, where he was involved in the allocation of target allocation in support of tactical air operations.

In February 1943 Currant was given the command of 122 Wing TAF (Tactical Air Force); he remained here until July 1944 and during this posting he was awarded the Croix de Guerre (Belgian) on April 9 1943.

Currant chose to remain in the RAF after the war and had post-war postings in Washington DC where he was on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and this was followed by a year back in London at the Ministry of Supply. This was followed by a four year posting to the Royal Norwegian Air Force Staff College - where the Norwegians awarded him the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav. He retired from the RAF in 1959 whereafter he joined an engineering firm in Luton - his employers developed weapons for the RAF. He finally retired in 1974.

Currant was married to Cynthia in 1942 and they had three sons and a daughter.

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