Born in 1915, Parnall was the son of the founder of Parnall Aircraft and attended Clifton College and Downing College, Cambridge, where he read Mechanical Sciences. He was a member of the University Air Squadron and was commissioned in Class ‘AA’ of the RAFO in December 1936. He relinquished this and transferred to the RAFVR in January 1938. In September of that year he was granted a Permanent Commission in the RAF as a University Entrant.
Parnall was appointed PA to the AOC Reserve Command in April 1939. In May 1940 he converted to Hurricanes and joined No 249 Squadron.
On 8 July Parnall shared a Ju 88, on 15 August he destroyed a Bf 110 and on 2 September he destroyed a Bf 110 and damaged two others. On the 7th he shared in the destruction of a He 111, on the 11th shared another and on the 15th he probably destroyed a He 111 and damaged a Bf 109.
He was shot down and killed during a patrol over Gravesend on 18 September. His Hurricane, V 6685, crashed and burned out by the A12 road, near Furness Farm, Furze Hill, Margaretting, Essex. Parnall was 25. He is buried in the churchyard of St Genesius, at St Gennys, Cornwall.
Years later John Beazley, who also fought with 249 and was a long serving treasurer, and later Life Vice-President, of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust, described how he had seen his friend Denis Parnall bounced by a Bf 109 and shot down.
Land at Crackington Haven, close to the family home in Cornwall, was presented to the National Trust in 1959 by Wing Commander A G Parnall, brother of Denis. A plaque at the site states that this gift was in memory of Denis Parnall “and all who gave their lives in the Battle of Britain 1940”.
