PADDY Finucane was just 21 years old when he died as the youngest ever wing commander in the history of the Royal Air Force.

Also credited as one of the Second World War's highest scoring fighter pilots – claiming 28 victories or more – the Dublin-born flying ace has left quite a legacy.

And one Herefordshire man knows Paddy's story better than most.

Brigadier Dennis Fuller, from Wormbridge, married Paddy's younger sister, Monica.

And the 85-year-old is now on a desperate mission of his own – attempting to retrieve his brother-in-law's war medals which went missing in the post last year.

Brigadier Fuller had applied to the RAF in Innsworth on behalf of his wife – who was unwell at the time and sadly died aged 84 earlier this month – for a set of three medals that were owed to Paddy.

The family hoped to put them on display at the Royal Air Force Museum in London alongside Paddy's uniform which is already there.

Brigadier Fuller sent them as first class signed delivery from Allensmore Post Office in August after putting them back in the same package they were sent to him in but with a new label.

But they never reached their destination.

Brigadier Fuller said: "I was told I couldn't register a complaint in for 15 working days. But to my mind that's actually allowing the whole thing to go cold for 15 days.

"Having put the complaint in they acknowledged it but said they couldn't give an answer for 30 working days. Eventually they came back and said, after two months, they couldn't find them and said they would make arrangements to refund the £4.50.

"I felt like I had let the family down completely. But of course they said that wasn't the case at all."

Brigadier Fuller said he re-applied to the RAF for the medals but was told that wasn't possible unless they'd been stolen, lost in a fire or flood or there was a complaint in the shape of a police report.

A friend with an interest in medals helped put Brigadier Fuller in touch with police and they have since released an appeal to help find the missing medals.

“When it first happened and I put the first complaint in I wrote to two notable medal collectors including Spink in London and told them they were sent around August 10,” he said.

“They didn't have anything in the system. The thing about these medals is the bars above them which make them more valuable. One is the Battle of Britain Bar and the other a bronze oak leaf.

"Those medals could be acquired on the market without any background for about £10 but the moment you put those bars on then it goes up to around £3,000," he said.

Brigadier Fuller is now waiting for the outcome of the police appeal and hopes he can then re-apply for the medals.

Paddy Finucane’s last words, as he was forced to fly his spitfire into the English Channel after being hit by German gunfire, was 'this is it chaps'.

He has since been the subject of a number of books and a group of Irishmen have asked for permission to recover his spitfire – and possibly his remains – from the sea next year.