Born at Lee, London, on 27 February, 1918, Michael Ferriss was educated at St Joseph’s Academy, Blackheath, London and Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. He was a medical student at St Thomas’s Hospital and was a member of the London University Air Squadron before he joined the RAF on a short service commission.
With training completed, Ferriss joined No 111 Squadron at Northolt.
He shared in the probable destruction of a He 111 on 8 April 1940 and shared another on the 10th. During patrols over France in May, Ferriss destroyed two Bf 110s and damaged two others on the 18th, a Bf 110 damaged on the 19th, a Bf 109 destroyed on the 31st, a Bf 109 destroyed and probably another on 2 June and another two Bf 109s destroyed on the 6th. Ferriss was awarded the DFC on 21 June.
He destroyed a Bf 109 and damaged a Do 17 on 10 July, now officially the opening day of the Battle of Britain, and shared a He 59 on the 28th. He was appointed ‘A’ Flight Commander on 7 August 1940, destroyed a Do 17 and damaged another on the 13th, was promoted to Acting Flight Lieutenant on the 14th and probably destroyed another Do 17 on the 15th.
In a head-on attack over Marden, Kent on 16 August, Ferriss collided with a Dornier Do 17 bomber and was killed. He crashed on Sheephurst Farm, Marden, in Hurricane R 4193. The Do 17 fell at Moatlands, Paddock Wood.
The squadron was a pioneer of head-on attacks, which, as well as shooting down enemy aircraft, could scatter formations, providing easier targets for other RAF fighters and perhaps sending aircraft back to the Continent with dead and wounded on board, as a warning of what could happen over England.
Ferriss is buried in St Mary’s churchyard, Chislehurst, Kent.
