William Henry Rhodes-Moorhouse

William Henry Rhodes-Moorhouse, (4 March 1914 – 6 September 1940) was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and flying ace who was killed in action during the Battle of Britain. Early life Rhodes-Moorhouse was born on 4 March 1914 at a house in Brompton Square, London. He was the son of William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse and Linda Beatrice (née Morrit). His father served as a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War, but was killed in April 1915 when the younger Rhodes-Moorhouse was little more than a year old. He had been wounded in action during a bombing raid near Kortrijk, Belgium, and died of his injuries the next day. The elder Rhodes-Moorhouse was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in that last raid, becoming the first airman to receive the medal. The Rhodes-Moorhouse family enjoyed considerable wealth and circulated in the top echelons of upper-class society of the time. William was educated at Eton College, where he was able to obtain his pilot's licence aged 17. In October 1933, William inherited his father's estate of over £250,000 (a huge sum for the time). After travelling extensively, on 15 September 1936 at Marylebone Rhodes-Moorhouse married Amalia Demetriadi, who had been approached to be screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in the film Gone with the Wind, but declined. A keen sportsman, Rhodes-Moorhouse was selected for the British Winter Olympics team for the 1936 Winter Olympics, but an accident on the ski jump prevented him from competing.