Royal Air Force Fighter Command, 1939-1945. Wing Commander M N Crossley standing in front of a Hawker Typhoon at Gravesend, Kent. In 1940 Crossley shot down 22 enemy aircraft over France and during the Battle of Britain while flying with No. 32 Squadron RAF, latterly as its Commanding Officer. He led a wing of Supermarine Spitfires in 1941, and was then posted to the united States as a test pilot for the British Air Commission. He returned to England in 1943 to lead the proposed Detling Wing, but his operational flying career was cut short when he contracted tuberculosis.