{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2012}} {{Infobox military person | name = Cecil Henry Hight | image = Cecil Hight uniform.jpg | caption = Cecil Henry Hight | birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|09|06|df=yes}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1940|08|15|1917|09|06|df=yes}} | burial_label = | burial_place = Bournemouth East Cemetery | birth_place = New Zealand | death_place = Bournemouth | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | nickname = | birth_name = Cecil Henry Hight | allegiance = {{flag|New Zealand}} | branch = {{air force|United Kingdom}} | service_years = 1939-1940 | rank = Pilot Officer | service_number = | unit = 234 Squadron | commands = | battles = World War II *Battle of Britain | battles_label = | awards = | relations = Herbert Edward Hight (Father)<br>Emma Hight (née Anderson) (Mother) | other_work = }} Pilot Officer '''Cecil Henry Hight''' (6 September 1917 – 15 August 1940) was a New Zealand born fighter pilot who served with the Royal Air Force during World War II. He was killed in action during the Battle of Britain.
== Early life ==
Hight was born on 6 September 1917<ref name="mobob"> {{citation | title = Men of the Battle of Britain | year = 1989 | publisher = Kenneth G Wynn, 1989 | isbn=0-947893-15-6 }}</ref> to Herbert Edward Hight and Emma Hight (née Anderson), of East Road, Stratford, Taranaki, New Zealand.<ref name="cwgc"> {{citation | title = Commonwealth War Graves Commission casualty details | publisher = CWGC | url = http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2690884 | access-date = 18 August 2010}}</ref> In his teens he was educated at Stratford Technical High School.<ref name="times43"> {{citation | title = He Died For Our Freedom: Dedication at St Peter's | publisher =Bournemouth Times, 9 April 1943 }}</ref> As a youngster he helped with his father's milkround,<ref name="victory"> {{citation | title = Victory : remarkable stories of local people in World War Two | year = 2005 | publisher = Bournemouth Echo, 2005 | isbn=0-9546280-2-0 }}</ref> and after he left school he became a car salesman.<ref name="mobob"/>
Hight learned to fly with Stratford Aero Club, obtaining his 'A' Licence at the Western Federated Aero Club in August 1937.<ref name="bbm"> {{citation | title = The Airmen's Stories - P/O C H Hight | publisher = The Battle of Britain Monument in London website | url = http://www.bbm.org.uk/Hight.htm | access-date = 19 August 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110927230842/http://www.bbm.org.uk/Hight.htm | archive-date = 27 September 2011 }}</ref> A photo from the Stratford Aero Club archives show him with his 'wings' badge awarded to those who are qualified to fly solo.
==Military career== In early 1938, Hight worked his passage to England to join the Royal Air Force. He failed to meet the educational requirements, so took a cramming course in mathematics and on reapplication was provisionally accepted for a short service commission.<ref name="mobob"/> He began training on 6 January 1939, was made Acting Pilot Officer on probation on 15 April,<ref> {{citation | title = London Gazette, 2 May 1939 | url = http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34621/pages/2923/page.pdf | access-date = 18 August 2010}}</ref> and completed training becoming Pilot Officer on probation on 6 November.<ref> {{citation | title = London Gazette, 26 January 1940 | url = http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34780/pages/530 | access-date = 18 August 2010}}</ref>
Hight joined 234 Squadron at RAF Leconfield in Yorkshire, which was re-forming with Blenheims, but from March 1940 re-equipped with Spitfires. During the Battle of Britain he flew Spitfires with 234 Squadron out of RAF Middle Wallop.
===Death===
On Thursday 15 August 1940 a massive German raid of 70 bombers escorted by around 200 fighters was spotted off Portland in Dorset. The warning sirens sounded at 5.20pm in Bournemouth.<ref name="edgington"> {{citation | title = Bournemouth and the Second World War, 1939-1945 | author = MA Edgington | year = 1994 | publisher = Bournemouth Local Studies, 1994. | isbn=1-873887-03-5 }}</ref> 234 Squadron, including Pilot Officer Hight, was scrambled to repel the attack. Around 6pm<ref name="edgington"/><ref> {{citation | title = Pilots - He | publisher = Battle of Britain.co.uk | url = http://www.the-battle-of-britain.co.uk/pilots/He-pilots.html | access-date = 19 August 2010}}</ref> his Spitfire, R6988, was hit over Bournemouth.
It is claimed that, in order to avoid inflicting casualties on the ground, Hight piloted his stricken plane away from the built up area of the town and towards Meyrick Park. He bailed out as the plane came down but his parachute did not open. His body was found under a hedge in the grounds of Hambledon on Leven Avenue.<ref name="edgington"/> He may well have been already dead from machine gun wounds before he hit the ground.<ref name="victory"/> He was 22 years old. His plane crashed less than fifty yards away and created a crater on the corner of Leven Avenue and Walsford Road.<ref name="edgington"/>
Canon Hedley Burrows, vicar of St Peter's, arrived and said a prayer for the dead pilot where he lay.<ref name="victory"/> The owners of Hambledon, Alfred and Edith Hoare, created a garden of remembrance on the spot where Hight had landed.<ref name="bbm"/> thumb|right|175px|Cecil Hight's grave Hight's funeral was held on 19 August, conducted by Canon Headley Burrows. His coffin was carried by six RAF officers<ref name="edgington"/> and draped with the British and New Zealand flags, and his uniform cap. He was buried with military honours including a firing volley and officers' salute.<ref> {{citation | title = Gallant Young Airman | publisher = Bournemouth Echo, 21 August 1940 }}</ref> Among the wreaths was a bunch of flowers from the garden where he fell.<ref name="edgington"/> He is buried in an area of Commonwealth War Graves in Bournemouth East Cemetery.<ref name="cwgc"/> His family chose a quotation from the Book of Proverbs for his headstone, 'I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me'.
Hambledon, the house in whose garden Hight's body landed, was itself bombed in an air raid just before midnight on the night of 14 November 1940.<ref name="bbm"/> Alfred and Edith Hoare were both dug out of the rubble, but Alfred died on the way to hospital.<ref> {{citation | title = Five Killed by Nazi Raiders Last Night | publisher = Bournemouth Daily Echo, 15 November 1940 }}</ref> He was pronounced dead at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Bournemouth on the 15th,<ref> {{citation | title = Record for Alfred John Hoare | publisher =National Probate Calendar of England and Wales (Index of Wills and Administrations),1861-1941. }}</ref> and is buried in Wimborne Road Cemetery. The Hoares' garden of remembrance continued to be tended by local people.<ref name="edgington"/>
== Memorials ==
Like the rest of The Few, Cecil Hight is commemorated on the Battle of Britain Memorial, Capel-le-Ferne, and the Battle of Britain Monument in London.
A memorial service for Cecil Hight was held at St Peters church on 7 April 1943. The New Zealand High Commissioner unveiled a plaque of RAF brevet wings with 'NZ' in the centre, designed and carved from Kauri wood by the pupils of Hight's old school, Stratford Technical High, in New Zealand.<ref name="times43"/> The service was broadcast live to New Zealand and heard by Hight's mother.<ref name="edgington"/> 175px|thumb|right|Pilot Hight Road sign in Bournemouth A new memorial stone was unveiled on 15 August 2015 at the junction of Walsford Road, Benellen Avenue and Leven Avenue, Bournemouth by the Mayor of Bournemouth. Pilot Officer Hight died close to this site. The Municipal Buildings in Stratford has a Hall of Remembrance which displays photos and names of the area's dead from the world wars, including Cecil Hight.
Bournemouth council named a road in West Howe "Pilot Hight Road". In 2010, new street signs were installed carrying an image of a Spitfire.<ref> {{citation | title=Pilot Hight Road in West Howe named after World War Two Spitfire pilot Cecil Hight | url=http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/8668517.Bournemouth_road_marks_the_life_of_World_War_Two_Spitfire_pilot/?ref=mr | date=16 November 2010 | work=Bournemouth Daily Echo}}</ref>
On 15 August 2020, the 80th anniversary of his death, a service of remembrance was held at his grave.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hight, Cecil}} Category:1917 births Category:Royal Air Force officers Category:The Few Category:1940 deaths Category:Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Category:People from Stratford, New Zealand Category:People educated at Stratford High School, New Zealand Category:Burials at the Wimborne Road Cemetery, Bournemouth Category:Royal Air Force pilots of World War II