View source for Rupert Brabner

{{short description|English politician and World War II flying ace}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = [[Commander (Royal Navy)|Commander]]
|name             = Rupert Brabner
|honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DSO|DSC|MP}}
|image            = Ruper Brabner.jpg
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1911|10|29|df=yes}}
|death_date       = {{Death date and age|1945|03|27|1911|10|29|df=yes}}
|birth_place      = [[Epping, Essex]], England
|death_place      = near [[Azores]]
|allegiance       = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
|branch           = {{navy|United Kingdom}}
|rank             = [[Commander (Royal Navy)|Commander]]
|commands         = [[801 Naval Air Squadron]] (1941–42)
|battles          = [[Second World War]] {{block indent|{{Bulleted list|[[Operation Harpoon (1942)|Operation Harpoon]] | [[Operation Pedestal]] | [[Commando (aircraft)|Commando Liberator crash]] {{KIA}}}}}}
|awards           = [[Distinguished Service Order]]<br />[[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]]
|laterwork        = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Hythe (UK Parliament constituency)|Hythe]] (1939–45)
}}
[[File:Rupert Arnold Brabner Escutcheon.png|thumb|Arms depicted in the Commons chamber<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/12329216575/in/album-72157640555240074/ |title=Commons Chamber WW 2 memorial (5) Cdr Rupert A Brabner DSO, DSC, FAA, RNVR, d27.3.1945 nr Azores, unexplained loss of Liberator AL504, Winston Churchill's aircraft named 'Commando,' flying from Northolt to Ottawa. |date=5 February 2014 |publisher=Baz Manning |accessdate=7 August 2021}}</ref>]]
[[Commander (Royal Navy)|Commander]] '''Rupert Arnold Brabner''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|DSO|DSC}} (29 October 1911 – 27 March 1945) was a British [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) who served with the [[Royal Navy]] as a pilot in the [[Second World War]] and became an [[Flying ace|ace]] with 5.5 confirmed kills.

==Politics==
Brabner, from [[Loughton]] in [[Essex]], was educated at [[Felsted School]] and [[St Catharine's College, Cambridge]]. By profession, he was a banker and a director of [[Singer & Friedlander]] Ltd.

Brabner became a member of [[London County Council]] for West [[Lewisham]] in 1937,<ref>Who Was Who, 1941–50. p.131</ref> and served until his death. He was elected to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] as MP for [[Hythe (UK Parliament constituency)|Hythe]] in [[Kent]] on 20 July 1939,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34648|page=5104|date=25 July 1939}}</ref> and was later appointed as a government [[Whip (politics)|whip]]. He was appointed to be Joint Parliamentary [[Under-Secretary of State for Air]] in 1944.

He and his sister Jean Gwenneth (also killed in World War II) are commemorated by a [[blue plaque]] on the family home at [[Loughton]].<ref>[http://www.loughton-tc.gov.uk/2bhpl.htm  Loughton Council Website – Blue Plaque – 47 Spareleaze Hill] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827195716/http://www.loughton-tc.gov.uk/2bhpl.htm |date=27 August 2008 }}</ref> His sister was a surgeon at St. Giles Hospital who was killed in a German V-1 rocket attack on London.<ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3125748/BRABNER,%20JEAN%20GWENNETH  War Graves details – Jean Gwenneth Brabner]</ref>

==War service==
Brabner served as an officer of the [[Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve]] during the Second World War as a [[Fleet Air Arm#Fleet Air Arm|Fleet Air Arm]] pilot. He served with [[806 Naval Air Squadron|806 Squadron]] (November 1940 and March 1941), [[805 Naval Air Squadron|805]] (early 1941)  and [[801 Naval Air Squadron|801]] on {{HMS|Illustrious|R87|6}} ([[aircraft carrier]]), {{HMS|Heron}} (RN Air Station, Yeovilton, Somerset), {{HMS|Eagle|1918|6}} (aircraft carrier), {{HMS|Victorious|R38|6}} (aircraft carrier), {{HMS|Indomitable|92|6}} (aircraft carrier) and in [[Crete]] and [[North Africa]].

From 11 August 1941 to September 1942, Brabner was the commanding officer of 801 Squadron serving aboard ''Eagle'', which was sunk on 11 August 1942. He was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]] for his actions during [[Operation Harpoon (1942)|Operation Harpoon]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35687|supp=y|page=3817|date=28 August 1942}}</ref> After surviving the loss of the ''Eagle'', he was appointed to the staff of Rear Admiral [[Clement Moody]], in regard to aircraft carriers for landings in North Africa. In 1943, Brabner was made naval assistant (technical) to the [[5th Sea Lord]]. For his actions in August 1943 during [[Operation Pedestal]], he was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=36143|supp=y|page=3785|date=20 August 1943}}</ref>

Brabner was an air ace with five confirmed destroyed enemy aircraft, one shared destroyed, and one probable.

Commander Brabner died age 33 when the [[Commando (aircraft)|Liberator aircraft]] taking him to [[Canada]] with Air Marshal [[Peter Drummond (RAF officer)|Peter Drummond]] was lost off the [[Azores]]. He is commemorated on the [[Lee-on-Solent]] Memorial on bay 6, panel 2<ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2973896 CWGC entry – Rupert Brabner]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNVR_officersB.html RNVR service history]

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-rupert-brabner | Rupert Brabner }}

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{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
  | title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Hythe (UK Parliament constituency)|Hythe]]
  | years  = [[1939 Hythe by-election|1939]]–1945
  | before = [[Philip Sassoon]]
  | after  = [[Harry Mackeson]]
}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
 | title  = [[Under-Secretary of State for Air]]
 | years  = 1944–1945
 | before = [[Hugh Seely, 1st Baron Sherwood|The Lord Sherwood]]
 | after  = [[John Strachey (politician)|John Strachey]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brabner, Rupert}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents]]
[[Category:British World War II flying aces]]
[[Category:English bankers]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Fleet Air Arm aviators]]
[[Category:Members of London County Council]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945]]
[[Category:People educated at Felsted School]]
[[Category:People from Loughton]]
[[Category:People lost at sea]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II]]
[[Category:Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1935–1945]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Essex]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1945]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Portugal]]