John Moffat

John William Charlton Moffat (17 June 1919 – 11 December 2016) was a Scottish Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm pilot, widely credited as the pilot whose torpedo crippled the German battleship Bismarck and author of the biographical I sank the Bismarck. Moffat took part in the courageous strike on the German battleship Bismarck during its Atlantic sortie, codenamed Operation Rheinübung, on 26 May 1941 whilst flying a Fairey Swordfish biplane. Early life and family John Moffat was born in the village of Swinton in the Scottish Borders county, to Mary and Peter Moffat. When he was a child his parents moved to Earlston where his father opened the first garage. John's father, Peter, had served in the Royal Navy during the First World War, joining in 1914 to qualify as an aeronautical engineer for the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Peter served in No. 2 Wing RNAS under Wing Commander Charles Rumney Samson, the first man to fly an aircraft off a ship. Peter Moffat served in Belgium and was posted to the seaplane carrier, , which sailed to the Mediterranean to take part in the Gallipoli Campaign. Peter left the service in 1917 and married Mary in 1918. Mary Moffat was an amateur opera singer. Moffat's mother encouraged him to take up playing musical instruments. Owing to this, John learned to play the violin and piano by the age of 10. During his teenage life Moffat took up equestrianism and followed the riders during fox hunting, which "did not go down well with his parents". In 1929 Moffat saw an Avro 504 aircraft fly over Kelso, triggering a lifelong passion for flying. The pilot was offering rides for 10 shillings. Moffat described the pilot as a Biggles look-alike and was impressed by him. Moffat flew that day for the first time. Moffat described his feeling of his first flight: