And Then There Was One

Everybody in the R.A.F. had heard of Dick and David Atcherley, the flying twins. Dick was the stuntman:he clowned his way to fame in prewar days by chasing cottontail rabbits in a souped-up biplane, dragging one wingtip in the dust at 80 m.p.h. David was more conventional: he commanded a peacetime fighter squadron at the age of 34. In the Battle of Britain, the flying Atcherleys were among the famed few to whom so many owed so much. In 1950, both became Companions of the Order of the Bath.

In postwar Britain, the "terrible twins," waxing plump and still bachelors, were made air vice-marshals.* David took his jet fighter squadron to Suez to guard the Empire's lifeline; Dick took charge of the air defense of Britain's Midland counties. Last week Air Vice-Marshal David, now 48, climbed in his Meteor jet and took off for Cyprus, about 300 miles away. Somewhere in the airforce-blue waters of the peaceful Mediterranean, he crashed and drowned, leaving Air Vice-Marshal Dick to go it alone.

* The U.S.A.F.'s most famous flying twins, Lieut. General Barney and Major General Benny Giles retired in 1946.

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