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Vigors, Timothy Ashmead(Entry 1-39)Timothy Ashmead Vigors was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire on 22nd March1921 to an Anglo-Irish family. He was brought up in Leicestershire educated at Eton and passed the entrance examination for Cranwell, entering it in January 1939. Vigors graduated on 23rd December 1939 and joined 266 Squadron at Sutton Bridge on 6th January 1940. He joined No. 222 Squadron RAF flying Spitfires at RAF Duxford in February 1940. Vigors saw action over Dunkirk in May, shooting down his first Bf 109 on 30 May and on 1 June he shot down his first Heinkel He 111.Through the summer of 1940, 222 Squadron flew from RAF Hornchurch in Essex. The squadron suffered heavy casualties and Vigors was himself twice forced to crash land. He once responded to a call for volunteers to intercept enemy bombers when still wearing his scarlet pyjamas under a green silk dressing gown, shooting down a Heinkel and during night-time scrambles was in charge of attaching Douglas Bader's tin left leg. By the end of September he had destroyed at least six enemy aircraft, with a further six probable successes. In October 1940 he was awarded the DFC.During the Battle of Britain, Vigors flew with the Irish tricolour painted on his Spitfire's fuselage. He was posted to 12 Group Pool Aston Down on 17th January and after converting to Blenheims joined 222 Squadron at Duxford on 24th February. The squadron re-equipped with Spitfires in March 1940. Over Dunkirk on 31st May Vigors probably destroyed a He111 and on 1st June destroyed a Me110.During the night of 19th/20th June an unidentified aircraft was reported overhead and Vigors, in dressing gown and pyjamas, was sent up to investigate. He lost his bearings, sighted a bomber and fell in with it, in the hope that it would lead him to an airfield. The aircraft was a He111 and it opened fire, scoring hits on Vigor's Spitfire. He shot it down near Sunk Island, Yorkshire and then landed at Barkston Heath, from where he had carried out night flying training from Cranwell.On 25th July Vigors damaged two He111's, on 30th August probably destroyed a Me110, on the 31st destroyed a Me109 and probably two more and then made a crashlanding himself at Hornchurch, when his undercarriage failed to come down.On 1st September Vigors destroyed a Me109, on the 3rd destroyed a Me110 and damaged another, on the 6th damaged a Me109, on the 7th probably destroyed a Do17, on the 9th he shot down a Me109 in flames and was then shot down himself and made a crash-landing on allotments near Dartford in Spitfire X4059, with his left aileron and tailplane shot away and glycol tank punctured. Back with the squadron, Vigors probably destroyed two Me109's on 30th October and damaged a Me109 on 2ndNovember.Vigors was posted away on 27th December 1940 to Singapore, where he joined 243 Squadron as a Flight Commander on 12th March 1941. It was then reforming at Kallang. On 21st November 1941 Vigors was given command of 453 Squadron at Sembawang.In early 1945 he returned to the UK and was posted to command RAF Castle Camps. He retired from the RAF on 8th November 1946 as a Squadron Leader, retaining the rank of Wing Commander. Vigors inherited the family farm, Coolmore in County Tipperary and moved there in 1968. He began building it into the famous stud farm which it is today. In the mid-1970s Vigors sold the business and went to live in Spain. He returned to Newmarket in the early eighties, remaining there until his death on 4th November 2003.