Ian Lawson (officer)

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Ian Douglas Napier Lawson CB CBE DFC AE ( November 11, 1917 - January 22, 1998 ) was a British Air Force officer in the Royal Air Force , who last served as Major General ( Air Vice Marshal ) between 1967 and 1969 as deputy chief advisor to the Department of Defense for Personnel and logistics was. For his services during the Second World War he was mentioned three times in the war report ( Mentioned in dispatches ).

Life

Pilot training and World War II

After graduating from the London Polytechnic in 1934, Lawson began working for the aircraft manufacturer de Havilland Aircraft Company and was employed there until 1939. In 1938 he joined the Air Force's RAFVR ( Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve ) as a sergeant , but had only completed forty hours of flight by the beginning of World War II . He was then transferred to the Royal Air Force College Cranwell , the officers' school of the British Air Force, to complete his pilot training there. After further flight training in the operational training unit 11 ( No. 11 Operational Training Unit RAF ) at the military airfield RAF Bassingbourn and his promotion to lieutenant ( pilot officer ) on September 22, 1940, he became pilot of the No. 214 Squadron RAF , where he Vickers Wellington - bombers flew.

After twelve missions with this squadron , Lawson was sent to the Middle East in March 1941 to serve in No. 148 Squadron RAF to serve as a pilot and aviation commander. In the following years he took part in missions in North Africa , Crete , Sicily and Yugoslavia . After being promoted to first lieutenant ( Flying Officer ) on September 22, 1941 and being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on January 30, 1942, he was promoted to Captain ( Flight Lieutenant ) on September 22, 1942 . He then found a brief employment as an aviation commander of No. 70 Squadron RAF , before becoming a group training inspector on March 18, 1943 for No. 205 Group RAF changed. During his use there he was awarded a clasp ( bar ) to the DFC on May 25, 1943 .

Already in August 1943 Lawson was subordinated to the bomber command ( RAF Bomber Command ), where he dealt as an officer with the latest technical developments in bombers and took part in operations. On January 1, 1944, he then moved to the staff of the Allied Air Forces in the Mediterranean region, MAAF ( Mediterranean Allied Air Forces ), where he served as a group leader for operations until the end of the war. On January 14, 1944 and January 1, 1945 he was mentioned again in the war report due to his military service ( Mentioned in dispatches ).

Staff officer in the post-war period

After the war ended, Lawson became an officer in the administrative staff of the Bomber Command on June 5, 1945. For his further services, he was honored with the Air Efficiency Award (AE) in 1945 and on October 9, 1945 with the Officer's Cross of the US Legion of Merit . In addition, it received a third mention in the war report on January 1, 1946. On April 2, 1946 he was promoted to Major ( Squadron Leader ) and taken over as a professional soldier ( Permanent Commission ) in the RAF, with the promotion and recruitment were dated back to September 1, 1945. After graduating from RAF Staff College Bracknell in 1946, he was transferred to the staff of the Department of Control and Staff Training of the Air Force Staff in 1946. In 1947 he became an officer in the Department of Personnel at the Air Ministry ( Air Ministry ) and subsequently visited in 1948 the school for land and air warfare ( School of Land / Air Warfare ) in Old Sarum , from the previous close air support school ( School of Air Support emerged) .

In September 1949, Lawson took over the post as commander ( Commanding Officer ) of having Douglas DC-3 Dakota - transport aircraft equipped No. 10 Squadron RAF and then in November 1950 as commander of No. 683 Squadron RAF , which was equipped with four-engined Avro Lancaster bombers . During a subsequent assignment as commander of the Vickers Valetta and Handley Page Hastings transport aircraft equipped No. 216 Squadron RAF he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ( Wing Commander ) on July 1, 1952 . He then completed a course at the Joint Services Staff College (JSSC) from January 1953 and then found employment in the Ministry of Aviation in 1953, before completing another course at the RAF Flying College from 1956 .

In July 1957 Lawson became the commander of the air wing at RAF Lyneham Air Force Base . After he was promoted to Colonel ( Group Captain ) on July 1, 1958 , he took over the position of Group Leader for Planning in the headquarters of the Air Transport Command ( RAF Transport Command ) on July 28, 1958 .

Ascent to Air Vice Marshal

He then became the commander of the RAF Lyneham Air Force Base on April 3, 1961. On June 10, 1961, he became Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). On December 3, 1961 he took over as Air Officer in charge of Administration (AOA) staff officer for the administration of the air forces in the Middle East AFME ( Air Forces Middle East ). There he was promoted to Air Commodore on January 1, 1963 .

Lawson succeeded Air Commodore Michael Lyne on July 28, 1964, in command of RAF College Cranwell and was promoted to Major General ( Air Vice Marshal ) in this role on July 1, 1965 . In the meantime, on January 1, 1965, he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). He remained in command of the Air Force Officers School until he was replaced by Air Vice Marshal Neville Stack . Most recently he became Deputy Chief Advisor to the Defense Ministry for Personnel and Logistics on February 1, 1967, and held this post until he left active military service on September 8, 1969.

After his retirement, Lawson returned to the aviation industry and became a consultant to the aircraft manufacturer British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and then from 1974 to 1979 head of its sales department in Weybridge . In 1979 he assumed the role of General Manager of Civil Aviation Marketing for British Aerospace (BAe) before serving on the Board of Directors of Gloster Air Holdings Ltd from 1981 to 1982 .

Web links

  • Biography on Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organization

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34986, HMSO, London, November 5, 1940, p. 6398 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  2. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 35439, HMSO, London, January 30, 1942, p. 502 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  3. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 36027, HMSO, London, May 25, 1943, p. 2321 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  4. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 37300, HMSO, London, October 9, 1945, p. 4958 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  5. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 37518, HMSO, London, April 2, 1946, p. 1625 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  6. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 42370, HMSO, London, June 10, 1961, p. 4151 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
  7. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 43529, HMSO, London, January 1, 1965, p. 3 ( PDF , accessed February 12, 2016, English).
personal data
SURNAME Lawson, Ian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lawson, Ian Douglas Napier (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Air Force officer in the United Kingdom
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1917
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1998