William Ash (writer)

William Franklin Ash MBE (30 November 1917 – 26 April 2014) was an American-born British writer and Marxist who served as a fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. He was shot down, made a prisoner of war and was noted as an escaper.

Born into a lower-middle-class family in Dallas, Texas, Ash was a migrant worker during the U.S Great Depression and graduated from the University of Texas with a BA degree writing privileged pupils' essays in order to gain money and also for his personal development as an author. Around this time the Spanish Civil War broke out, and the largely apolitical Ash, driven by a hatred of bullies and fascism, decided that if the war was still going when he was old enough to fight (aged 21), he would join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Ash enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at Windsor, Ontario, on 22 June 1940. He did his basic training at No.1 Initial Training School from 20 July 1940 and was promoted to leading aircraftman on graduation on 14 October 1940. Having been accepted for pilot training Ash was posted to No.12 Elementary Flying Training School from where he graduated on 30 November 1940. Posted to No. 31 Service Flying Training School, he learned to fly single-engine fighters. On graduation, he was commissioned on 25 March 1941. Ash was assigned to Embarkation Depot on 3 April 1941 for the voyage to England where he completed a period with Operational Training Unit before joining No. 411 Squadron RCAF. He flew Spitfires in many defensive and offensive missions, including an attack on the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. In 1942, he flew in "big wing" fighter sweeps over France with No. 411 Squadron RCAF.

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