INNISS – Aubrey Richard de Lisle

Wing Commander, Aubrey Inniss, DFC, wartime fighter ace, was born in Barbados on November 21, 1916. He joined the RAF in January 1939 on a service commission and by September when war broke out he had been trained and was posted to 236 Squadron, flying the Blenheim 4Fs on anti-shipping duties. On September 23, 1940 Inniss had his first kill when he shot down a Heinkel He 111. In 1941 he was posted to the 248 Squadron, flying the Beaufighter which was a powerful and much faster aircraft with four 20mm cannon and six machine guns. Patrolling from St. Eval in Cornwall to as far as the Bay of Biscay, he was able to shoot down two Ju 88s in January and March 1943. In July of the same year he was awarded his DFC having added another victim to his tally. He was later promoted to Wing Commander and ended the war with seven (7) kills. Aubrey Inniss retired from the RAF in 1958 and along with his wife Ruth, ran a fishing pub at Sheepwash, North Devon. After his wife‘s death in 1975, he spent most of his time in Barbados and died there on January 30th, 2003 at the age of 86.

[Source: Barbados Postal Service]

In 2008 the Barbados Postal Service issued a set of stamps commemorating their men who served in the Royal Air Force in WW2, Aubrey Inniss is portrayed on the one to the right. More »

5 additions to “INNISS – Aubrey Richard de Lisle”

  1. Jonathan Ivesz adds:

    hi, Was Aubrey Inniss related to George Harold Frederick Inniss, also from Barbados. He is listed at the CWWGC site as

    Initials: G H F Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Pilot Officer (Pilot) Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force Unit Text: 106 Sqdn. Age: 24 Date of Death: 04/02/1941 Service No: 43036 Additional information: Son of Charles H. Inniss and Caroline Inniss, of Barbados. Arts Graduate of Durham University. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot L. Row A. Grave 15.

    November 29th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
  2. Jerome Lee adds:

    In the Battle of Britain London Monument http://www.bbm.org.uk , Aubrey Inniss is now listed as a BOB pilot – which makes two for the West Indies

    April 3rd, 2010 at 5:41 pm
  3. Paul Wigman adds:

    We were introduced to Aubrey in the late 70’s by Tom Knowles owner of Long Beach apartments,(they were very close friends). I was very young at the time, but remember many of his stories, he had a very rough time in WW2 as did many people. We use to have gin and tonic late morning sessions by the pool, which lasted for hours. I wish I had got the chance to spend more time with him. Never made it to the Half Moon Inn, but heard many stories about the fishing.

    February 13th, 2011 at 1:36 am
  4. L Adamson adds:

    I met Aubrey at the Half Moon Inn whilst on holiday in Devon in 1975, after his wife had died and he showed us around the whole place including his workshop where he made his own fishing lures. He later took myself and my friend fishing in his boat which I think he said had a car engine in it. We fished somewhere near Appledore and we caught more Mackerel than we knew what to do with. He showed us where to look for Cockels and we harvested hundreds. Such an interesting man and was almost like an uncle you never knew you had. I was only 15 at the time and i asked him to write in my autograph book…
    “The grass is green the sun has riss, I wonder where the birdies is ?
    The bird is on the wing ! Now ain’t that absurd..
    I always thought the wing was on the bird.” A.L.Inniss Wg Cdr

    January 13th, 2012 at 6:21 am
  5. sean crumblehulme adds:

    A great man i miss him loads

    November 12th, 2012 at 5:24 pm

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