Flt Lt Eric Lock DSO DFC and Bar was just 22-years old when he failed to return from operations over France in August 1941. From anonymity, he rose to become a household name in a matter of months, and readers hungrily followed his climbing tally of victories, and the stories of his daring combats that were reported in the newspapers.

Very much a celebrity of his time, he was different to those we call ‘celebrities’ today. Rather than being lauded for some form of physical, oral, or oratorical talent, safely performed under lights within the confines of an auditorium, studio, or concert hall, with an audience and judges, his skills were of a rarer variety. He competed with man pitted against man, and against the elements, with his very life in danger. He used his wits and developed strategies in the air, with no-one to rely on, and nothing to save him but his own prowess.

He applied himself both physically and mentally at great altitudes over England, the Channel, and France, and there were few if any witnesses to his aerial jousting. Indeed, his own reports of his actions give little away about the thinking and planning behind his attacks, about the freezing temperatures and yet the sweat caused by nerves, about the fear and excitement, the exhalation and relief, and the afterthought and realisations following a battle.

In the solitude of the cockpit of a Spitfire, these thoughts were his alone. There was no-one to share them with; there was no-one to advise him, console him, encourage him, or praise him; there was no audience, no judge, and no applause. Like the basic human emotions of love and grief, it was personal. Only he could deal with his thoughts and his actions, in his own way. There was no right or wrong way; they were his alone to process and deal with.

Time and time again, throughout the Battle of Britain and beyond, Lock ventured into the sky to engage his opponents, and returned to report yet another successful combat. However, they did not always go his way and he was seriously wounded in action in November 1940. And yet, upon recuperation, he returned to the skies, despite it all, knowing that there was a job to be done and he had a duty to fulfill. Ultimately, he paid the greatest price, but in his short life he displayed the greatest traits that man is measured by. He gave it all for little in return; no-one could have asked him for more.

Lock’s skill in the cockpit saw him rise from one of thousands of young pilots to become the highest-scoring pilot of the Battle of Britain. In fact, two-and-a-half years after his death, the RAF still considered him the fifth-highest scoring pilot in the RAF, surpassed only by such greats as Gp Capt ‘Sailor’ Malan, Wg Cdr ‘Paddy’ Finucane (by then missing, presumed killed), Wg Cdr ‘Bob’ Stanford Tuck (by then a Prisoner of War), and Sqn Ldr ‘Ginger’ Lacey.

This earned him a number of accolades: a Distinguished Service Order and two Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Mention in Dispatches, and the type of heroic celebrity that the Air Ministry’s propaganda machine eagerly fed the British public when it was most needed. However, what were their value against this young life, lost in its prime?

Although married, the war intervened in any effort at family planning, and when Lock was posted missing fourteen months after his marriage, he had no offspring. In time, his distraught widow remarried, and his family line was ultimately lost to history. Perhaps this is why the selfless acts of this courageous young man have never been compiled and told in a work solely devoted to him.

Lock is by no means forgotten, though. A street in Shrewsbury is named after him, and he is mentioned in several books, including 41 Squadron’s published History of World War II. Most poignantly, perhaps, his name appears on a number of war memorials, alongside too many other young airmen who also paid the ultimate price.

This work now draws everything together in one complete record and tells the full story of Lock’s life for the first time, revealing the man behind the legend, dispelling myths, and clarifying open questions. We witness his highs and his lows, we feel his joy and his pain, and we grieve with his family as they struggle to come to terms with his loss. It is a comprehensive tribute to a brave young Shropshire airman who died far too young, whose celebrity has perhaps passed, but who deserves an enduring memorial as he has no known grave where we may otherwise pay our respects.