THE youngest pilot to fly in the Battle of Britain was only 18-years-old and came from Mersea.

Martyn Aurel King, who died in the battle, was born on the island in 1921.

He grew up in China where his father Dr George King was a medical missionary.

Following his father’s death, King studied at Chefoo School in northern China until 1938 when he moved back to Britain.

He took a business course before deciding to join the RAF. He began his course as a pupil pilot on August 14 1939, days before the start of the Second World War.

After completing his training Mr King converted to Hurricanes and he was posted to 249 Squadron in June, 1940.

This information was discovered by historian Geoff Simpson whilst researching the lives of pilots for the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust website.

Mr Simpson has been researching the Battle of Britain and “The Few” for 35 years.

He said: “Various claims have been made as to who was the youngest Battle of Britain pilot.

“Some recent media stories have clearly been inaccurate. It was known that M A King was young and it was believed his birth date was October 15 1921.”

Mr Simpson had been working alongside genealogist Gladys Armstrong who obtained Mr King’s birth certificate.

“There was presumably some administrative error at the end of the war at what is now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, so that Pilot Officer King’s age at death was recorded in commission records and on his gravestone as 19, when it should be 18.”

“Pilot Officer King is the youngest pilot in the Battle of Britain for whom we have proof of the date of birth.

“He is the only one I know of who was killed aged 18. There were younger non-pilots (air gunners, observers, radar operators), some born in 1922.

Mr King’s plane was shot down by enemy fighters over Southampton on August 16. He was killed when his parachute collapsed during descent.He was buried in All Saints’ churchyard, Fawley, Hampshire, on August 22 1940.

Following the recent findings the Commonweath War Graves Commission have agreed to change their records and provide a new headstone with the correct dates on it.