THE 80th anniversary of the death of a Battle of Britain fighter ace has been marked.

Flight Lieutenant Ian James ‘Jock’ Muirhead, holder of the Distinguished Flying Cross, was killed on October 15, 1940, aged just 27, after his Hurricane was shot down in a dogfight over Kent - bailing out too low, his parachute failed to open.

He’s buried in St Mary’s churchyard, Holme Cultram, Abbeytown, Cumbria, the place where his family ran a small market garden.

Flt Lt Muirhead died in the final phase of the battle which raged in the skies above Britain from July to the end of October.

He flew with the RAF’s 605 Squadron, at Croydon, during the battle.

Last weekend a plaque was unveiled near the scene of the crash.

He’d previously survived being shot down twice before and the sinking of a ship in a torpedo attack.

Nephew David Carruthers, 61, an artist who lives in Lincoln, said: “In our family he always been portrayed rightfully as a hero and I’m very sorry never to have met him personally.

“I think you have to remember your family history.

“He almost got through the Battle of Britain and there is no telling what he might have achieved.

“There is still family in Cumbria, he was the eldest of four, my mother was the youngest.”

Flt Lt Muirhead was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in June 1940.

Prior to the Battle of Britain, in May 1940, they began patrols over France during the British Army’s retreat to Dunkirk on the north French coast - where he downed a number of German aircraft.

On May 26 he was patrolling when he his plane was shot down and he baled out over Ostende, in Belgium.

He was mistakenly fired on by Belgian soldiers even before he hit the ground.

When he reached the port the port he boarded, after two days, SS Abukir. It was torpedoed by a German E-Boat early the next morning sinking within minutes.

David said that Ian was blown into the water and spent four hours clinging to the roof of a deck cabin.

The E-boat machine-gunned survivors in the water by the light of its searchlight - in total 205 people were lost, he was among 32 survivors.

In a letter to his mum Clara afterwards he said: “It’s been quite an exciting week. Apparently the AM notified you I was missing on Monday which was the day I was shot down on.

“Well I’ve been bombed and torpedoed since then on my way back and missing again.”

He was also shot down in a dogfight over south London on October 7, bailed out, and was back in the air fighting that afternoon.

Flt Lt Muirhead was the son of John and Clara Muirhead and was born in 1913, in Poplar Leytonstone, London, but the family later moving to Abbeytown.

He originally joined the RAF in September 1929, aged 16, as an aircraft apprentice.