Australians in the Battle of Britain. 23 August 1940

Yet another day weather-blighted day as far as the Luftwaffe was concerned but an opportunity to rest and regather strength for Fighter Command. The Germans attempted a few incursions, but, where Fighter Command decided to intercept, nothing was spotted because of the cloud cover. Happily, this was another day with no casualties.

Again I can’t pinpoint the exact movements of all of ‘my’ Australians. Ken Holland carried out some more formation practice and John Crossman had two aerial outings. The first, fifty minutes in Hurricane P3268 and the second was one hour five minutes in L1555. That’s it.

And so, another pen portrait, again carrying on the theme of animal lovers.

Peter John Moore was born on 1 October 1919. He was the third child and second son of Arthur Fitzroy Moore and Catherine Susan (née Morrissey) and born into a comfortable life among the social and business elite of Melbourne, Victoria. His was a happy, carefree Catholic childhood with pet puppy romping on the lawn. There were frequent trips to his grandparents who were graziers in NSW’s upper Hunter Valley. Fair-skinned, brown-eyed Peter soon lost his babyish blond curls as they darkened into a light brown and were clipped into a more suitable style for a growing lad. But the blonde fringe remained, usually brushed off his forehead as he matured, sometimes flopping down into his eyes until, in his twenties, his hair started to recede from his forehead.

In 1930, the year before his father’s death, Peter entered Burke Hall, the preparatory school for Xavier College, a Jesuit Catholic school. Peter was intelligent and a hard worker. He distinguished himself academically and was Dux—best student—in 1931, his final year there. Peter commenced at Xavier College on 10 February 1932. He again excelled academically and in his final year gained First class honours in Latin, second class honours in French and European History and third class honours in English. He was Dux of the school and was awarded a scholarship to Newman College, University of Melbourne. He did not take this up. Instead, he went to Oxford University.

Peter was cultured, elegant, and intelligent. Other than horse-riding, tennis and rowing, which he took up at Oxford, he was little interested in sport, preferring intellectual pursuits and an ultimate aim of a life in the diplomatic service. But flying got under his skin and he joined the Oxford University Air Squadron in April 1939, and the RAF Volunteer Reserve in June that year.