Derek Hodgkinson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir William Derek Hodgkinson KCB CBE DFC AFC (born December 27, 1917 in Prestbury , Cheshire , † January 29, 2010 in Hampshire ) was a British Air Force officer in the Royal Air Force , who last served from 1973 to 1976 in the rank of General ( Air Chief Marshal ) Was Air Secretary in the Department of Aviation.

Life

Pilot training and World War II

Hodgkinson joined the RAF on January 25, 1937 as a regular soldier ( Short Service Commission ) and then began his aviation training on February 6, 1937 at No. 11 Flying Training School RAF . After completing his training, on September 4, 1937, he became a pilot at No. 220 Squadron RAF and was promoted to Lieutenant ( Pilot Officer ) on November 16, 1937 . In the meantime he was used as a flight instructor for bombers of the Lockheed Hudson type and was promoted to first lieutenant ( Flying Officer ) on May 16, 1939 . On January 17, 1941 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). 1941 he became a flight instructor and flight training commander to the coast for Air Command ( RAF Coastal Command belonging) No. 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF , which was stationed at the RAF Silloth military airfield .

On June 26, 1942, Hodgkinson flew an air raid on Bremen with a Lockheed Hudson as a combat unit of the bomber command ( RAF Bomber Command ) consisting of 1000 bombers . He was shot down by a night fighter and became a German prisoner of war , most of which he spent in Stalag Luft III near Sagan . He was awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC) in absentia on January 1, 1943 . Towards the end of the Second World War , in February 1945 he was transferred with around 2,000 captured officers from Stalag Luft III to main camp VII A in Moosburg an der Isar (Upper Bavaria) in order to escape the advancing Red Army units . For his services he was mentioned in the war report on December 28, 1945 ( Mentioned in dispatches ).

Staff officer in the post-war period

After the end of the war, Hodgkinson was taken on February 10, 1946 as a professional soldier ( Permanent Commission ) in the RAF and at the same time promoted to captain ( Flight Lieutenant ), this promotion was dated back to December 1, 1942. After he was promoted to Major ( Squadron Leader ) on August 1, 1947 , he took over his first command post as Commanding Officer of No. 210 Squadron RAF . He then moved in April 1949 to the management staff of the Joint Anti-Submarine School in Australia ( Australian Joint Anti-Submarine School ) and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ( Wing Commander ) on July 1, 1952 .

After attending Joint Services Staff College , Hodgkinson became commander of No. 240 Squadron RAF , which was used for submarine hunting and sea patrols. After his promotion to Colonel ( Group Captain ) on July 1, 1958, he became commander of the RAF St Mawgan Air Force Base. He then acted as aide-de-camp of Queen Elizabeth II between March 8, 1960 and July 23, 1963. In addition, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) on January 1, 1961 and on March 1 , 1963 . Promoted to Air Commodore in July 1963 . At the same time he was since February 20, 1961 Personal Staff Officer of the Chief of the Defense Staff , Admiral of the Fleet Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma .

Hodgkinson then graduated from Imperial Defense College in London in 1964 and then took over from Air Commodore Charles Willis on March 3, 1965 as Commander of the RAF Staff College at RAF Andover base and remained in this position until March 7, 1966 Group Captain Percy Oliver Valentine Green was replaced.

Promotion to Air Chief Marshal

On April 1, 1966, Hodgkinson became Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Operational Requirements ) and received his promotion to Major General ( Air Vice Marshal ) three months later on July 1, 1966 . During this time he headed a committee in 1968 that reviewed the officer structure of the RAF. The results of the final report of this Hodgkinson Commission ultimately led to the abolition of the direct admission of officer candidates ( flight cadets ) to the officers' school of the Air Force ( Royal Air Force College Cranwell ). Instead, a graduate entrance examination was introduced. In addition, the recommendation of the commission led to the abolition of the supplementary list . He also became Companion of the Order of the Bath on January 1, 1969 . After more than three years of service in the Air Force Staff, he became Chief of Staff SASO ( Senior Air Staff Officer ) in the Air Force Training Command ( RAF Training Command ) on July 16, 1969 .

Hodgkinson was subsequently on June 2, 1970 as the successor to Air Marshal Denis Smallwood, the new Commander-in-Chief British Forces Near East and Commanding General ( Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief ) of the Air Force in the Middle East NEAF ( RAF Near East Air Force ). At the same time he was also administrator of the Royal Air Bases Akrotiri and Dekelia in Cyprus and Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces in Cyprus BFC ( British Forces Cyprus ). One month after taking up this post, he was promoted to Lieutenant General ( Air Marshal ) on July 1, 1970 . On January 1, 1971, he was beaten Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) and has since had the addition of "Sir". He was replaced on June 25, 1973 by Air Marshal John Aiken .

Most recently, on October 15, 1973, Hodgkinson succeeded Air Chief Marshal John Barraclough as Air Secretary and was responsible for career planning, promotions and appointments of officers of the RAF in the Air Ministry . In this post he was promoted to General ( Air Chief Marshal ) on April 22, 1974 and remained in this position until he was replaced by Air Marshal Neville Stack on February 28, 1976. On May 8, 1976, he finally retired from active military service Service off.

He was then vice-chairman between 1977 and 1980 and then chairman from 1980 to 1982 of the Regular Forces Employment Association and was a member of the board of this association until 1986.

His daughter Elizabeth Heather Hodgkinson was married to Colonel John Richard Townsend, who served in the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment , among others .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34457, HMSO, London, November 23, 1937, p. 7352 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34634, HMSO, London, June 9, 1939, p. 3894 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  3. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 35045, HMSO, London, January 17, 1941, p. 346 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  4. ↑ London Gazette . No. 35841, HMSO, London, January 1, 1943, p. 34 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  5. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 42231, HMSO, London, December 31, 1960, p. 8896 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  6. ↑ Air Commodore Percy Oliver Valentine Green, RAF No. 41015 in Biplane Fighter Aces
  7. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 45262, HMSO, London, January 1, 1971, p. 3 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
personal data
SURNAME Hodgkinson, Derek
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hodgkinson, Sir William Derek (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Air Force officer in the United Kingdom
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Prestbury , Cheshire
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 2010
Place of death Hampshire