RAF aircraft to be named 'Guernsey's Reply' in WW2 pilot's honour

A Royal Air Force aircraft is set to be named in honour of a Guernsey World War Two fighter pilot to mark the 76th anniversary of the island's Liberation.

A Poseidon MRA1 will be named Guernsey's Reply, after Flt Lt Herbie Machon's Spitfire of the same name.

He was evacuated at the start of the war, shortly before Guernsey was occupied by the German military.

Soon after, he signed up as a volunteer for the British army and joined the RAF in 1942.

Flt Lt Machon was deployed on a variety of missions, including bombing campaigns against military positions in the Netherlands used by the Luftwaffe to attack England.

Poseidon's are a multi-role maritime patrol aircraft, equipped with sensors and weapons systems for anti-submarine warfare, as well as surveillance and search and rescue missions.

The Boeing aircraft will be the sixth of nine to be delivered to the RAF and will operate as part of a re-established 201 Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland.

The squadron carried the moniker 'Guernsey's Own' until it was disbanded in 2011, with members serving pallbearers' at Flt Lt Machon's funeral in 2004.

It is expected to return to operation over the summer, reclaiming its standard stored in Guernsey's Government House.

The squadron's commanding officer, Wing Commander Adam Smolak, said the name was "befitting of this long and proud association" between the island and RAF.

He said: "It is an honour to bring the squadron back to maritime operations; the coming years will be challenging and exciting in equal measure and it is vital that as we move forward, we retain this historic link."

Flt Lt Machon's son Nick said his family were "delighted and honoured" for the aircraft to be named after his father's Spitfire and would "take to the skies on the RAF's newest Poseidon aircraft".

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