RAF Local Residents

Exhibition research by Joan West

The Royal Air Force was formed from the Royal Flying Corps in 1918. Several men who trained in those early days had homes here during WW2, by then high ranking officers.

A full history of each was given at an exhibition by The Local History Group in 2018 giving photographs, details of their lifetime careers, their honours and awards, families and their association here with other details such as the planes they flew.

Wilfred Brown. Lived at The Crown, Church Lane, Lacey Green.

Wilf Brown was called up during WW2 into the RAF. He spent most of the war in India. He was taken ill when his body stopped sweating in the heat. In order to save his life he was sent to high altitude Kashmir to recover. Research Note. Barry Macey told me that Wilf always told what a beautiful place it was and that his recovery time was the best days of his life.

 Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet. Air Chief Marshal.   Stationed at Bomber Command, Walters Ash, WW2.

Researcher’s note.   Born 1892, being inspired by stories of Southern Rhodesia, he ducked out of boarding school aged 17 and in 1910 emigrated to Umtali, South Rhodesia, eventually establishing his own farm.    Being in the bush at the time, he only learned about WW1 a month after it was declared.

Service Career

1914 Harris joined the 1st Rhodesian Army Regiment serving with South African forces in South West Africa, where Germany was inflecting heavy bombing.

1915 sailed for England with 300 South African volunteers.

He applied for the Cavalry and Royal Artillery with no luck but was accepted for the Royal Flying Corps in November 1915. After learning to fly he was a second lieutenant.

1917 Flight Commander on the home front and in France. Nov. 1918. Awarded the Air Force Cross for Distinguished service.

Post WW1

Having married in 1916 to Barbara Money and now with a child, Harris, although he now thought of himself as a Rhodesian, decided to stay in England and remained in the newly formed RAF.

1920 Commander RAF Digby No.3 Flying Training School, followed by North West Frontier troubles in India and bombings and uprisings in Mesopotamia, (under British occupation) and Persia.

May 1922 He offered his resignation, wanting to go back to Rhodesia, but was persuaded to stay.                                                                                  1923.  He helped devise Area Bombing in Iraq

1924.  Air Commanding, first post-war Heavy Bombing Squadron, No 58, developing Night Training.

June 1927  Awarded OBE (order of the British Empire)

July 1927 promoted Wing Commander of a Flying-Boat Squadron, also developing Night Flying Operation Techniques.

June 1933 promoted to Group Captain

1934-1937  Deputy Director of Plans in the Air Ministry, with postings to Middle-East Command, Egypt as Senior Staff Officer.

Also in 1936, he helped Southern Rhodesia set up its own Air Force.

July 1937  Promoted to Air Commodore.

1938 Air Commanding no.4 Bomber Group.  He went on a purchasing mission in the USA. Then Officer Commanding the RAF in Palestine and Trans-Jourdan

July 1939 Promoted to Air Vice Marshall and with others pressured for Large Strategic Bombers             

WW2                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Sept 1939  Command No 5 Group

Nov 1940 Deputy Chief Air of Staff                                                                                                                                                            Feb 1942   Appointed Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command

JUNE 1942 Appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath

1942  The War Cabinet passed "The Area Bombing Directive" which advocated the area bombing of German cities.

Harris was directed to carry out this task. It became an important part of the total war waged against Germany

Maybe because it was not wholly endorsed by all in Government, including Churchill, who considered the policy distasteful, it appears that the general public were not told the full extent of the targets and official statements maintained they were only industrial and economic with civilian casualties being unintentional but unavoidable.  Harris urged the Government to be more honest with the public, although he himself did believe in the area bombing policy.

Aug 1944  Promoted to Air Chief Marshall

Awards 

Feb 1944  Awarded the Russian Order of Surorov, First Class

Jan 1945 Awarded the American Legion of Merit

Jun 1945  Awarded the Polish Order of Polonia Restituta, First Class

Jun 1945 Advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath  

Nov 1945 Appointed Knight Grand Cross, Southern Cross of Brazil

Jun 1946 Awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the USA

Retired September 1946              

Bomber Command's crews were eligible for the Air Crew Europe Star, France Star and German Star, but because the late bombing of Dresden was considered by many to have been unnecessary, they were denied a separate Campaign Medal.

Harris refused a peerage in 1946 in protest to this snub to his men.

He was the sole Commander-in-Chief not to become a peer.

Post WW2

1948 Harris moved to South Africa to manage the South African Marine Corporation from 1946 to 1953.  In 1953 He returned to live in England.

Feb 1953  Winston Churchill, once again Prime Minister, insisted that Arthur Harris accept a Baronetcy                      

Vic Southon. Lived at Beggar's Roost, Foundry Lane, Loosley Row.

Vic joined the RAF in 1949. After basic training he trained as a radio technician.

1851 Officer training as a pilot at Cranwell, then posted to Egypt, flying fighter Gloster Meteors.

Several postings followed in the Cold War. UK postings flying Javelins, which had replaced the Meteor in 1956. He was posted to Bomber Squadron flying Vulcans, but his heart remained in Fighter Command.

Training on Bloodhound Missiles at RAF Scampton, may have decided Vic to leave the RAF in order to be able to continue "hands-on" flying - his great love.

POST RAF. In 1967 having obtained his Airline Transport Pilots' License he joined British Airways, flying Boeing 707s, VC10s and 747s worldwide. Having to retire at 55 he then became one of Richard Branson's original pilots for Virgin Atlantic, until his retirement.

Vic died in December 2017 aged 88

John Timothy "Timmy" Tempest.   Lived at Virginia Cottage, Main Road, Lacey Green.

Timmy joined the RAF Volentry Reserve. After basic training he became a flying officer. In WW2 he was a navigator in bombers over France.

In 1943 WW2. Based Nr. Misrata, North-West Libya (recently taken from the Italians).   Timmy was Navigator in a crew of seven, under Pilot Micky Vertigan when an accident occurred - - -  

Rearcher’s Notes from the book ‘Down in the Drink’.  On a night bombing mission to cut off roads converging on Tunis in, order to finally push the German Afrika Korps out of Africa, they took off from Misrata, in a Halifax.    A “freakishly” hot air temperature, caused the 4 engines to fail, one by one.   They put down in the Mediterranean, where they escaped into their dinghy, Timmy Tempest only able to estimate their position. They drifted ashore on the eleventh morning onto a desolate coast, weak from lack of water and food and very sunburnt. They were rescued by local, (friendly) Arabs.

Timmy awarded the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross)

Douglas Tilbury. Lived at Parslows Hillock Cottages no 2

1952 - 1954 National Servce in the RAF.

Served on 56 Squadron Fighter Command, fitting. refuelling and servicing the engines on the Meteor Mk 8. The Gloster Meteor was the first operational jet fighter. It went on to become a Fighter Bomber and Reconnaissance Fighter.

click Doug Tilbury for Doug's life story