Bunny Currant

Christopher Frederick Currant, nicknamed "Bunny", was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War.

Currant was born on 14 December 1911 in Luton, Bedfordshire. Aged 25 he joined the Royal Air Force in 1936; after qualifying as a pilot he joined No. 46 Squadron as a sergeant pilot and later with No. 151 Squadron; he was later commissioned as a pilot officer and began service with No. 605 squadron at RAF Wick, Caithness on the Wick Bay.

In the second week of the Battle of France in May 1940, his squadron was moved down to RAF Hawkinge in Kent; from here the squadron flew sorties in France where enemy aircraft were attacking the retreating British Expeditionary Force. On one early sortie the engine on his Hawker Hurricane failed, forcing him to crash land in a field, breaking his nose and he was forced to make his own way to Calais where he managed to get a lift on board a vessel back to England.

605 squadron was then moved to RAF Drem where it took part in the interception of the famous Luftflotte 5 raid which took place on 15 August. Currant claimed two Heinkel He 111s shot down. The squadron was again moved south again – this time to RAF Croydon and was soon in the midst of the heaviest fighting in September 1940.

Currants tally of enemy aircraft rose steadily and on 15 September alone, he had accounted for 2 Dornier Do 17s, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and damaged another three Do 17s as well as a Heinkel He 111. By the end of 1940 his tally stood at 8 destroyed and 5 shared, and he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 8 October 1940 and the Bar to it in the consecutive month.

Currant then had a spell as the chief flying instructor of No. 52 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Debden; this was followed by the command of Spitfire Squadron No. 501 in August 1941. It was at this time that he played himself in the film The First of the Few, which starred David Niven.

He commanded the Spitfires of the Ibsley Wing from June until August 1942. It was at this time that he was also awarded the DSO. At this time he was mainly involved in operations over occupied France and the Low Countries. He was allowed a break from fighting and undertook a four-month lecturing tour in Eastern America and upon his return he went to 84 Group Control Centre, where he was involved in the allocation of target allocation in support of tactical air operations.

In February 1943 Currant was given the command of 122 Wing of the 2nd Tactical Air Force; he remained here until July 1944 and during this posting he was awarded the Croix de Guerre (Belgian) on 9 April 1943.


Currant chose to remain in the RAF after the war and had post-war postings in Washington DC where he was on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and this was followed by a year back in London at the Ministry of Supply. This was followed by a four-year posting to the Royal Norwegian Air Force Staff College – where the Norwegians awarded him the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav. He retired from the RAF in 1959 where after he joined an engineering firm in Luton – his employers developed weapons for the RAF. He finally retired in 1974.
Currant died on March 12, 2006 at the age of 94 in Taunton, Somerset, England.