health he worked for a time as a farm labourer, then reapplied and was accepted into the RAF in December.

Kain’s elementary flying training was at a civil school at Brough, Humberside, after which he was promoted to acting pilot officer on 21 December. Following ground training at RAF Uxbridge, he started advanced flying training in March 1937. He gained his pilot’s wings in June and in November was posted to No 73 Squadron at Digby, Lincolnshire. Kain showed his excellence at aerobatics with an exhibition in a Gloster Gladiator bi-plane at the 1938 Empire Air Day show at Hendon. In July that year he began flying the RAF’s new Hawker Hurricane fighters, and in July 1939 he was promoted to flying officer.

With war approaching, No 73 Squadron wasmobilised on 24 August 1939. It was posted to Le Havre-Octeville, France, on 9 September, then to Rouvres a month later. By now Kain was a section leader in B flight, flying defensive patrols over France. On 8 November he shot down his and his squadron’s first German aircraft, a Dornier Do17 bomber at a height of 27,000 feet, then the highest altitude for a dogfight in the history of aerial warfare. During the first months of the war, when there was little action in the air, Kain became popular with the war correspondents, who were hungry for exciting news. Over six feet tall, and just 21 years old, he was nicknamed ‘Cobber’ by his squadron colleagues because of his ebullient and friendly nature.

On 23 November he downed