Tim Vigors
| Timothy Ashmead Vigors | |
|---|---|
| Born |
22 March 1921 Hatfield, Hertfordshire |
| Died | 14 November 2003 (aged 82) Cambridge, Cambridgeshire |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 Royal Air Force
|
| Years of service | 1939-1946 |
| Rank | Wing Commander |
| Service number | 33554 |
| Unit |
No. 222 Squadron RAF No. 243 Squadron RAF |
| Commands held | No. 453 Squadron RAAF |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross |
| Other work | Thoroughbred racehorse breeding |
Wing Commander Timothy Ashmead Vigors DFC (22 March 1921 – 14 November 2003) was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and flying ace during the Second World War, serving in the Battle of Britain and in the Far East. In civilian life, Vigors began the development of the Coolmore Stud that went on to transform the breeding of thoroughbred racehorses.
Vigors's account of his wartime experiences was published posthumously in 2006 as Life's Too Short to Cry: The Inspirational Memoir of an Ace Battle of Britain Fighter Pilot.
Vigors was born at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, on 22 March 1921. Although Vigors's father worked as a , the family were landowners in County Carlow in Ireland and owned Tullamaine Castle stud in County Tipperary.
During the Battle of Britain, Vigors flew with the Irish tricolour painted onto his Spitfire's fuselage. He grew up near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire and hunted with the Mendip from an early age.
He was educated at Eton College.
In January 1939 Vigors enrolled as a cadet at RAF Cranwell. He joined No. 222 Squadron RAF flying Spitfires at RAF Duxford in February 1940. He saw action over Dunkirk in May, shooting down his first Me 109 on 30 May, at which he felt the same satisfaction, his obituary in The Daily Telegraph recorded him saying, as if he had "pulled down a high-flying pigeon flashing across the evening sky with the wind up his tail". On 1 June he shot down his first Heinkel 111. He attended the Fourth of June at Eton having fought over Dunkirk that morning.
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