On 2 December that year he was shot down by a FW 190, crash landed and was found by French troops. He returned to the squadron. On the 4th he shot down a Bf 109, on 6 January 1943 and 1 March he damaged Bf 109s, on 2 March he chased one to ground level, causing it to crash into a hill, and on 24 April he destroyed another.
A posting to No 232 Squadron followed. “Chem” Le Cheminant was awarded the DFC in May 1943. He returned to the UK later in the year and was attached to the US 8th Air Force in East Anglia, to teach German fighter tactics.
He stayed in the RAF after the war and had a posting to Mitchell Field, Long Island, USA, in 1947, on exchange duties. From 1968 to 1970 he was Officer Commanding, RAF Saxa Vord on the island of Uist, Shetland, a radar base, playing a significant part in the Cold War. A subordinate there described him as: “One of the nicest people I’ve ever met”.
Le Cheminant was made OBE in 1970 and retired on 1 November 1972, as a Wing Commander. He died in November 1996 in Chippenham, Wiltshire.
