Sammy Sampson

Sammy Sampson (26 September 1913 – 31 January 2003) was a Scotland international rugby union player.

Rugby union career

Amateur career

Sampson played for London Scottish.

He played for the Co-Optimists.

He played for Kelvinside-West.

Provincial career

He played for Blues Trial against Whites Trial on 17 December 1938.

He then played for Scotland Probables against Scotland Possibles on 14 January 1939.

He played for Middlesex and London Counties after the Second World War. He captained London against Australia in 1947 on Boxing Day.

International career

He played for Scotland twice in the period 1939 to 1947.

He also played for the Barbarians.

He then joined the 131 County of Kent squadron, and downed another five Focke-Wulfs.

He was appointed to command the Free French wing, and taught them how to fly the Spitfire. He flew 189 operations in the war.

After the war, he commanded the West of Scotland Air Training Corps.

He wrote a book Spitfire Offensive: A Fighter Pilot's War Memoir recounting his actions.

Business career

He was a managing director of Ault & Wiborg Company. This was a firm that supplied printing ink to newspaper groups.

Family

His family were based in Chile and were railway entrepreneurs in the country.

He married Margaret Lenny in 1946. They met at a London Scottish ball that same year.