Charles Willis

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Charles Victor "Vic" Douglas Willis DSO OBE DFC (born November 9 or November 11, 1916 , † July 30, 2006 ) was a British Air Force officer in the Royal Air Force , who was last in the rank of Air Commodore between 1962 and 1965 in command of the RAF Staff College, Andover was. Because of his military services in World War II , he was mentioned twice in the war report ( Mentioned in dispatches ).

Life

Pilot training and World War II

Willis, whose father as a Sergeant Major in the Light Infantry - Regiment Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry served, began after the school in September 1933 trained as aircraft mechanics at the Technical Training School 1 ( No. 1 School of Technical Training RAF ) on the military airfield RAF Halton . After graduating, he began his aviation training in 1936 as a flight cadet in the C-Squadron of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell , the officers' school of the British Air Force, and was part of the college team in football and hockey . At the end of his training he was awarded the King's Medal and the John Anthony Chance Memorial Prize for outstanding performance . Subsequently, he was on 30 July 1938 as a professional officer ( Permanent Commission included in the RAF), for Lieutenant ( Pilot Officer transported) and was used as a pilot of an Avro Anson - low-wing reconnaissance plane in the stationed at the air base RAF Bircham Newton No. 220 Squadron RAF .

At the beginning of the Second World War, Willis was promoted to first lieutenant ( Flying Officer ) on January 30, 1940 and as pilot and adjutant to the commander to No. 201 Squadron RAF offset one with flying boats of the types Saunders-Roe London and later Short Sunderland appointed season . In 1940 he switched to the aircraft and aircraft weapons research institute A & AEE ( Airplane and Armament Experimental Establishment ) as a pilot at the instrument flight training and development unit BATDU ( Blind Approach Training and Development Unit ) at the RAF Boscombe Down military airfield . There he was involved in the work on the localization and identification of the radio beacons of the reconnaissance aircraft of the German Air Force . On January 1, 1941, Willis was first mentioned for his military services in the war report ( Mentioned in dispatches ). After his promotion to Captain ( Flight Lieutenant ) on 30 January 1941 he was commander of the flight training with Vickers Wellington - bombers equipped No. 109 Squadron RAF , with whom he during the African campaign on the Operation Crusader participated. He was then aviation commander of No. 162 Squadron RAF at Kabrit Air Force Base. During this time he worked on the development of the radio navigation system for bombers OBOE ( Observer Bombing Over Enemy ) and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his aviation services on January 20, 1942 .

After his return in 1942 Willis was flight training commander of the now with de Havilland Mosquito DH.98 - fighter-bombers equipped No. 109 Squadron RAF and continued to work on the further development of OBOE. In January 1943 he took over his first command post as commanding officer of No. 192 Squadron RAF , which consisted of Vickers Wellington bombers, de Havilland Mosquito fighter bombers and Handley Page Halifax bombers. The squadron was intended for operations of the electronic reconnaissance ELINT ( Electronic Intelligence ) and operated in early 1944 in association with the units of the bomber command ( RAF Bomber Command ) to collect information, for which he on March 31, 1944 with the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) was honored. In March 1944 he finally took over the post of commander of the RAF Foulsham air base and remained there until 1946. Because of his military achievements, he was mentioned for the second time in the war report on January 1, 1945.

Post-war period and promotion to Air Commodore

After the end of the war, Willis became the commander of the Central Signals Establishment (CSE ) in 1946 and was then a member of the Air Force Mission in Greece from December 1948 to 1950 . During this time he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on June 9, 1949 and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ( Wing Commander ) on July 1, 1949 . On his return to Great Britain he became an officer in the command staff of RAF Staff College Bracknell in 1950 and then an officer in the staff of the RAF Bomber Command, before being promoted to Colonel ( Group Captain ) on July 1, 1956 as Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) Chief of Staff of the Central Reconnaissance Establishment CRE ( Central Reconnaissance Establishment ) was.

On November 18, 1959, Willis took over the post of commander of the RAF Luqa Air Force Base on Malta , before he was promoted to Air Commodore on September 24, 1962 and succeeded Air Commodore Noel Hyde as commander of RAF Staff College, Andover . On March 3, 1965, he retired early from active military service at his own request and was replaced as Commander of the RAF Staff College Andover by Air Commodore Derek Hodgkinson .

After retiring, he worked in business, including chairing the West Midland Engineering Employment Association . Willis was married twice. His first marriage was in October 1941, when he married the pilot flight officer Margaret Parry, daughter of an admiral. From this marriage a son was born. In his second marriage, which remained childless, he was married to Margaret Dunne.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34548, HMSO, London, September 6, 1938, p. 5678 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34786, HMSO, London, February 6, 1940, p. 720 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  3. ↑ London Gazette . No. 35114, HMSO, London, March 21, 1941, p. 1658 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  4. ^ A b The Secrets of Q Central: How Leighton Buzzard Shortened the Second World War , Leighton Buzzard Archeology and History Society, The History Press, 2014, ISBN 0-750-96277-1
personal data
SURNAME Willis, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Willis, Charles Victor Douglas (full name); Vic (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Air Force officer in the United Kingdom
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1916
DATE OF DEATH July 30, 2006