A SPECIALLY commissioned print is to commemorate the heroic actions of Flight Lieutenant James Brindley Nicholson during the Battle of Britain.

Flt Lt Nicholson was the only Battle of Britain pilot to be awarded the Victoria Cross during the Second World War, and the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection has commissioned a print of his Hurricane P3576 ‘GNA’.

Flt Lt Nicholson, of No. 249 Squadron, was scrambled from Boscombe Down on August 16, 1940 as a 23-year-old and was awarded the Victoria Cross due to his heroic bravery during a raid by German fighter planes in which he suffered severe burns to his hands and face.

He returned to active duty in late 1941 only to lose his life in a crash in the Bay of Bengal in 1945.

Other Nicholson and Hurricane related artefacts will be displayed at the Collection’s Battle of Britain exhibition until the end of August.