Ronnie Scott didn’t see frontline combat but still contributed to the war effort as an instructor pilot.
World War II pilots (and WWII veterans in general) are a dying breed. All too often in these first four-and-a-half months of 2025 alone, I have written sad stories for The National Interest on the passings of the WWII fighter jocks, with articles on several American aviators as well as Royal Air Force Group Captain John “Paddy” Hemingway.
Now one more WWII veteran has joined the ranks of his comrades-in-arms reposing in fighter pilot’s Heaven. As noted by the title of an April 17, 2025, article in the Buenos Aires Times by Michael Soltys: “Ronnie Scott, beloved World War II veteran, dies aged 107.” Additional information is provided by an announcement in The Telegraph’s obituaries section, titled “Ronnie Scott, Anglo-Argentine who volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm in 1942 and flew Spitfires.”
Ronnie Scott’s Early Life
Ronald David Scott was born on October 20, 1917, to a Scottish father, Roy Douglas Scott (a Boer War veteran and a dragoon in World War I and one of the first referees in Argentine rugby), and an English mother (a nurse whose name is not provided by my sources). He was born in the Buenos Aires suburb of Villa Devoto, but the family soon moved to Belgrano, whereupon he was educated at Belgrano Day School and Hurlingham’s Oates College.
The seeds of his dream of becoming a Fleet Air Arm pilot were planted at a tender age. As described in the obit:
“One of his earliest memories was the British Industries Exhibition in Buenos Aires and the visit of the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, when Edward, Prince of Wales, playing polo at the Hurlingham, asked him to fetch a glass of tonic. After the prince and the 14-year-old fell into conversation, Edward asked his private secretary to arrange for the boy to visit Eagle, which inspired him to want to fly in the Royal Navy.”
Ronnie’s WWII Service
WWII would prove to be the catalyst for Ronnie’s pursuit of his military aviation dream, but it wasn’t until May 1942—two years and eight months after the outbreak of the war—that he finally volunteered to serve, as he had been caring for his ailing mother (who passed the following year). He joined as a British Latin American Volunteer (“BLAV”) and was initially set up to enlist in the Army, but somehow managed to talk his way into the Fleet Air Arm, arriving in Liverpool in 1943.
Scott was sent to Canada to learn to fly, and, upon returning to Britain, was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) (Air). Fast-forward to November 19, 1944, and he made his first solo flight in a Spitfire. In his own words:
“I took off with the canopy open … it was 55 unforgettable minutes … when accelerating, the nose went down and you could see ahead perfectly … Adrenaline took over my body. Flying a Spitfire was touching the sky with your hands, it was the most exciting plane I could have flown up to that moment … I tried a tight turn, and I was surprised. My god! This was something else, the body was crushed against the seat and the aircraft took you wherever you wanted. Impressed. She was alive, it was incomparable.”
Sub-Lieutenant Scott also ended up flying the Sea Hurricane and the Seafire, naval variants of the fighters immortalized in the Battle of Britain. He didn’t see frontline combat but still contributed to the war effort as an instructor pilot.
Ronnie Scott’s Post-WWII Life
Ronnie mustered out of the RNVR in 1946. He joined the Argentine Navy as a reserve officer, and from there became a commercial pilot. He first flew DC-3s for Aeroposta Argentina, and when Aerolíneas Argentinas was founded in 1950, he transitioned to that airline, flying the Douglas DC-4, the de Havilland Comet 4, and finally, the Boeing 737, retiring in 1978 with more than 23,000 commercial flying hours under his belt. Along the way, he became a founder of the Air Line Pilots Association. (Neither The Telegraph nor the Buenos Aires Times article mentions Scott’s final military rank.)
With the benefit of hindsight, one can see the irony of Scott’s Royal Navy service as an Anglo-Argentine in light of Great Britain’s 1982 war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands; indeed, his aforementioned childhood hometown and school shares their name with the Argentine Navy cruiser whose sinking comprised nearly half of the Argentine military deaths of that war. Ronny expressed admiration for the fighting prowess of the aviators of both the Argentine Air Force and his successors in the Fleet Air Arm.
However, as a true testament to the mutual reconciliation and long-term respect between the two former warring nations, Ronnie was made doyen of the Argentine Naval Aviation in 2018; made a life member of the Fleet Air Arm Officer’s Association in 2021; and granted the Condecoración de la Armada Argentina in 2022.
His passing took place at the British-American Benevolent Society retirement home in his birth town of Villa Devoto. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Marion, who passed in 2014 after sixty-four years of marriage, and he is survived by two sons (Roger and David) and three grandchildren.
Ronny’s secret to living such a long life? “Keep moving, and a daily glass of tinto.”
A Tribute to Ronnie Scott
As quoted in the Buenos Aires Times article, Britain’s ambassador to Argentina, Kirsty Isobel Hayes, paid tribute to Scott thusly:
“Ronnie Scott’s departure is news that saddens both Argentines and Britons. Born in Villa Devoto, he lived 107 years in which he always maintained his commitment to the community. And in World War II, he showed his bravery as a pilot in the Royal Navy.”
R.I.P. and God bless, Ronald David Scott, ‘til Valhalla.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
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