Jan Leeming’s hero search lands in York (From York Press)
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Jan Leeming’s hero search lands in York
12:48pm Saturday 23rd February 2013 in News
Ian Reed, Yorkshire Air Museum director, and Jan Leeming, present René Mouchotte’s medals to his 101-year-old sister, Jacqueline Quentin, in Paris last year
The Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington will feature in a special edition of BBC1’s Inside Out programme on Monday.
The programme features the remarkable personal search by former BBC TV News presenter Jan Leeming in her quest to find out about an anonymous French air ace, René Mouchotte.
Jan sponsored René’s name on the Battle of Britain Memorial in Kent. The journey took her to Belgium, France and York, where a significant role was played by the Yorkshire Air Museum in obtaining previously unseen film footage and records of René celebrating his shooting down the 1,000th enemy plane at Biggin Hill, London.
The museum then set about obtaining his British medals, including the Battle of Britain clasp, which had never been issued, and organising the presentation in Paris by the British Ambassador and the Chiefs of the RAF and French Air Force to the surviving family.
A museum spokesman said: “This is a very moving story, which has already been shown in the south and east of Britain and received excellent reviews.”
The programme will be broadcast at 7.30pm on Monday.
