Trinidadian war hero told RAF superiors he was African royalty

Satirical wheeze resulted in corporal making up bed for him in barracks and is included in history of RAF unit

A Trinidadian airman who became a second world war hero was so struck by the ignorance of the English" when he reported for duty in London that he and one of his countrymen duped their RAF superiors into treating them as if they were African royalty, a new history reveals.

Ulric Cross and Kenrick Rawlins sailed from the Caribbean to fly daring raids for the RAF in wooden-framed Mosquitos across Nazi Germany identifying targets for bombers. But such was the lack of understanding of people from the West Indian colonies that when they were billeted in 1941 they duped their superiors into thinking Rawlins was an African prince and Cross his spokesperson.