James 'Ginger' Lacey: Battle of Britain pilot remembered

I think perhaps the reference to an ammunition shortage referred to the small capacity of the guns on the plane itself?

Pleased to see that the BBC article has been edited as this morning it talked of him having ‘ejected’ from a Hurricane!

I was honoured to receive my PPL certificate from Ginger Lacey in 1979 at the Teesside Flying Club. It is signed by him and my CFI (Ken Large) the current owner of Chipmunk G-AKDN.

Report and photos in The Yorkshire Post ;
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/second-world-war-flying-ace-from-leeds-honoured-with-bomber-fly-past-and-blue-plaque-1-8665283

First rate military pilot. Ranks alongside the very best. Skilled, aggressive and determined; qualities he shared with Robert Stanford Tuck – the chap sitting in the Hurricane cockpit in the link photo.

Incredibly candid quote from ‘Ginger’ Lacey himself from a 1976 interview:

I much preferred to kill someone without them even knowing I was there – the first indication he was being shot at was when bullets were coming out of his chest.

But was ammunition ever in short-supply during the Battle-of-Britain? And can the recollections of his daughter be trusted about this (or are they somehow being misinterpreted)?

His daughter thinks his survival and hit rate was down to his shooting skills, with ammunition in short supply at the time.

She said: “He was a very good marksman, he brought down aircraft with five shots, so he was never going to run out of ammunition, was he?

Is it even possible to fire only ‘five shots’ from the eight guns on a Hurricane?

Notwithstanding any of that it is nice to see ‘Ginger’ Lacey commemorated at his birthplace and nice to see it being marked by the BBC.