28 May 1940: Pilot Officer
28 May 1941: Flight Lieutenant
September 1944: Squadron Leader
September 1944-February 1945: Commanding Officer 485 (NZ) Squadron
1946: retires
Spitfire Pilot
He was presented with the Legion d'Honneur in 2004 from President Jacques Chirac in thanks for his role in helping liberate France from the Nazis.
'Shortly after midnight on the day of the invasion, Mr Pattison saw a sky "black with heavy bombers going over to soften up the beach heads." He took off at first light. "There were four lanes of shipping, 100 miles of sea, and from the air it looked as though you could skip from ship to ship from South England into Normandy." Having been shot down himself - during the Battle of Britain and while flying sweeps over France - he shot down two German aircraft that day. He had thought he would be elated at shooting down an enemy aircraft but that was not the case. "After all, the young German aviators were very much akin to what we were. They were fighting for Germany, we were fighting for Britain and France and so forth." (Source: New Zealand Herald article, 7 June 2004, page A5)
Portraits and photograph of his medals published in Poot, E. (2009). Equipped with Spitfires, No. 485 was a day fighter squadron until March 1944 when it transferred to fighter bombing. Operated from England, based at some of the most famous fighter stations, until August 1944 when it moved to the Continent. There it flew in the fighter and fighter bomber role with Second Tactical Air Force. (Source:
http://www.nzfpm.co.nz/squadrons/485.htm). Portrait in Wynn, K. (1981). The Battle of Britain: 10 July - 31 October 1940
Member of the 'Goldfish Club' Squadron Leader Pattison, was a pilot with the 485 Squadron, during an offensive sweep over France, in May 1942. Fighter flak meant the engine of the plane shot out, 20,000 feet over France. The crew baled out, spending nearly two hours in the dinghy before being picked up by the ASR Launch (Goldfish Club).
AWMM