On 3 August 1944 at 12.30pm Capitaine Jean Maridor, a pilot with 91 Squadron RAF, died while successfully preventing a flying bomb from hitting its target: the buildings of Benenden School which at the time were being used as a wartime military hospital.
Jean was a distinguished pilot, having undertaken 434 flying missions in which he had been officially credited with destroying 20 ships, 3.5 enemy aircraft (the .5 is military style denoting joint involvement in shooting down the enemy), and 6.5 V1 flying bombs, more commonly known in the UK as doodlebugs.
Born in Normandy in 1920, Jean was a childhood plane enthusiast. He first apprenticed as a hairdresser whilst also taking lessons at a local flying club, receiving his Brevet A (the French diploma).
He joined the French Air Force in May 1939, just prior to the beginning of the Second World War.
Following the fall of France, he refused to destroy his own aircraft as directed and instead responded to General de Gaulle’s call and enlisted in the Free French Air Force, smuggling himself to England on the SS Arandora Star dressed in a Polish uniform.
Having undertaken his training at Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire, he achieved his first aerial victory in 1941. On promotion to Pilot Officer in February 1942, he joined the Spitfire-equipped 91 Squadron which specialised in attacking enemy ships over the Channel.
That fateful day in the summer of 1944, Jean was flying over the coast at Rye in his Spitfire when he spotted a V1 flying bomb and set about the chase. He made repeated attempts to shoot it down but was unable to ground it. As the bomb closed in on the school buildings, which at the time had a large red cross on the roof, Jean realised it was now too close to effectively use the ‘tilt technique’ – a manoeuvre aimed at tipping the V1’s wing and sending it into an out-of-control dive. Instead, he flew to within 50 metres and let off a final salvo. The resulting explosion destroyed the doodlebug but also tore off the Spitfire’s right wing, sending it plummeting to the ground.
Jean died in the crash, aged 23. It was eight days before he was due to marry his fiancée, WAAF Section Office Jean Lambourn. In recognition of his bravery, he was decorated several times over, being made both an Officer and Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur and was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Two plaques record his sacrifice, one in St George’s Church, Benenden marks the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death, and the second, at the entrance to Cloisters at the School, was unveiled 25 years later in 2019 by Katie Stewart, the daughter of Jean Lambourn, in the presence of staff, pupils and the School’s Combined Cadet Force. Mrs Stewart said: “It was a lovely tribute and a very moving service. I’m just so happy that the School keeps the memory alive, it’s such an important thing.”