He was called up on September 2 1939 
and completed his training as a fighter pilot before joining No 249 Squadron in May 1940, aged only 19. Once the Battle of Britain was over, No 249 remained in Essex. On November 7, operating off the Thames Estuary, Neil was again in action when he intercepted a Junkers 87 “Stuka” dive-bomber and shot it down. Three Bf 109s immediately attacked him and during the engagement he shot down two. Later that day his Hurricane was in a collision with his station commander’s aircraft and he was forced to bale out. At the end of the month he received a Bar to his DFC. The citation concluded: “His magnificent fighting spirit has enabled him to destroy at least 11 enemy aircraft.”
In May 1941
No 249 was sent to Malta. On the 21st they took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and headed for the beleaguered islands, arriving after a five-hour flight and during a German bombing attack on the airfield at Luqa.
Neil was in constant action, leading his flight as the islands came under heavy attack. On June 12 he shot down an enemy fighter, his twelfth and final victory. He also led fighter-bomber attacks against airfields in Sicily. Finally, after 18 months on operations he was rested and returned to England to train fighter pilots.
Following a period in command of No 41
Squadron flying Spitfires on escort duty, he was seconded to the 100th Fighter Wing of the USAAF’s 9th Air Force, based in southern England. He flew numerous US fighter aircraft and moved to Normandy after D-Day. He took part in a few ground attack operations, sharing in the destruction of a number of aircraft on the ground. He was later awarded the US Bronze Star.
In January 1945 he joined the staff of the School of Land/Air Warfare, and spent six weeks in Burma. He flew some operations in the Hurricanes of the Indian Air Force.
He attended the Empire Test Pilots’ School and spent three years at Boscombe Down as a test pilot followed by time in the US at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, where he took part in the first high altitude pressure suit experiments, a precursor to the US aerospace programme.
