Lewis Hodges

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Sir Lewis McDonald "Bob" Hodges KCB CBE DSO DFC DL (born March 1, 1918 in Richmond , London - † January 4, 2007 ) was a British Air Force officer in the Royal Air Force , who was last in the rank of General ( Air Chief Marshal ) of 1973 to 1976 deputy commander in chief of the Allied Forces in Central Europe AFCENT ( Allied Forces Central Europe ) in Brunssum was. During the Second World War he was involved in numerous air operations in support of the SOE ( Special Operations Executive ) in Europe and Southeast Asia and was honored several times for his military service there.

Life

Aviation training and World War II

After attending the renowned St Paul's School in London , founded in 1509, Hodges began his aviation training as a flight cadet in the C-Squadron of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell , the officers' school of the RAF. After completing his training, he was accepted into the RAF as a professional soldier ( Permanent Commission ) on December 17, 1938 and promoted to Lieutenant ( Pilot Officer ). At the same time he found his first use as a pilot in the No. 78 Squadron RAF on the military airfield RAF Finningley. After his promotion to first lieutenant ( Flying Officer ) on June 17, 1940, he switched to No. 49 Squadron , in the bomber of the type Handley Page Hampden flew.

Almost a year after the start of the Second World War , Hodges had to make an emergency landing in Brittany on September 4, 1940 after an attack flight on Stettin . His gunner John Hugh Wyatt refused a previous parachute jump and accompanied him through the German Wehrmacht occupied France of the Vichy regime . However, upon arriving in Marseille , they were arrested. He managed to escape by ship to Oran , where he was arrested again and taken back to Marseille. In the following years he was in St. Hippolyte du Fort near Nîmes , before he managed to escape from there with a forged passport on a train to Perpignan . From there he took a taxi to the border with Spain , which he then crossed over the Pyrenees . After his arrival in Spain but was arrested again and concentration camp of Miranda de Ebro spent before the British Embassy his release could reach five weeks later. He was then expelled to Gibraltar on June 13, 1941 .

Operations for the SOE and the Resistance

Members of the No. 161 Squadron RAF a West Country Lysander - connecting plane (1943)
In 1943, Hodges flew the future President of France Vincent Auriol from occupied France to Great Britain, for which he was awarded the Croix de guerre in 1944

On his return to Great Britain, Hodges was promoted to captain ( Flight Lieutenant ) on June 17, 1941 and to No. 49 Squadron RAF , with whom he subsequently participated as a pilot and most recently as an aviation commander in numerous air raids over Germany. In April 1942 he became the pilot in command of No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron RAF at RAF Tempsford , one of the two units that participated in the air operations in support of the Special Operations Executive (SOE ). The squadron took over the transport of the agents behind enemy lines or the dropping of supplies for the resistance groups of the Resistance . For this purpose his unit was equipped with four-engine Handley Page Halifax bombers. After he himself in May 1943 the post of Commander ( Commanding Officer ) of the No. 161 Squadron RAF took over, this was for their operational missions with Westland Lysander - connecting aircraft , as well as light bombers and reconnaissance aircraft type Lockheed Hudson equipped. Because of his aviation services, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on May 26, 1942 . He was also mentioned in the war report on June 11, 1942 ( Mentioned in dispatches ) . On May 25, 1943, he was also awarded a clasp ( bar ) to the DFC.

Hodges, who was promoted to Major ( Squadron Leader ) on July 1, 1943 , flew numerous missions himself. He and Flying Officer John Afflick often flew two planes each to bring 20 people to Great Britain, one of whom was Vincent Auriol , who later President of France . For his services in support of the Resistance he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on October 19, 1943 and the Croix de guerre in 1944 .

Subsequently, in November 1944, Hodges first became a staff officer in the operations department of the bomber command ( RAF Bomber Command ) and was then actually supposed to become the personal staff officer of Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory , who was to become the supreme commander of the air forces in Southeast Asia . However, after he and his wife were killed in an airplane accident in the French Alps near Grenoble on November 14, 1944 , he was instead commander of No. 357 (Special Duties) Squadron RAF . This squadron performed similar operations as the No. 161 Squadron RAF , but in Southeast Asia. The area of operations of the season, the heavy four-engine Consolidated B-24 Liberator -Bombern, Douglas DC-3 - transport aircraft and Westland Lysander was equipped -Verbindungsflugzeugen, lay mainly in Burma , Siam and Malaya . He remained in this post until the end of the Second World War.

Staff officer in the post-war period

After the end of the war, Hodges became an officer in the management staff of the RAF Staff College (Overseas) in Haifa on August 9, 1945 and also received a clasp for the DSO on October 19, 1945. He then attended the Empire Flying School on the RAF Hullavington military airfield from October 1946 , before becoming an officer in the management staff of the Joint Services Staff College (JSSC) in January 1947 . In 1948 he became commander of the French Legion of Honor . In 1948, he was for some time a staff officer at the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff ( Deputy Chief of the Air Staff ), Air Marshal Hugh Walmsley , changed but shortly afterwards in 1948 as an officer in the United Planning Staff of the Air Ministry ( Air Ministry ) and has been in this use at 1 July 1950 promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ( Wing Commander ).

In 1952, Hodges moved as an officer to the staff of the bomber command ( RAF Bomber Command ) and stayed there for four years until 1956. During this time he took part in an aircraft race from London to New Zealand in 1953 , in which he finished fourth and with the The twin-engined combat aircraft of the type English Electric Canberra flown by him set a new speed record on the London– Colombo stage . On January 1, 1954, he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 1956 he became the commander of the RAF Marham Air Force Base , on which three squadrons with four-engine Vickers Valiant bombers were stationed at that time . In this capacity he also acted as the commander of a Vickers Valiant unit, which was relocated to Malta in 1956 . On January 1, 1957, he was promoted to Colonel ( Group Captain ). On June 12, 1958, he was also Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Subsequently, Hodges was on April 7, 1959, Deputy Commandant of RAF College Cranwell . After his promotion to Air Commodore on January 1, 1961, he took over on February 10, 1961 the post of staff officer for administration AOA ( Air Officer in charge of Administration ) with the Air Forces in the Middle East ( RAF Air Forces Middle East ). On January 1, 1963, he was also Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB).

Promotion to Air Chief Marshal

After attending Imperial Defense College in London, Hodges was promoted to Major General ( Air Vice Marshal ) on July 1, 1963 and then took over the role of Air Force Representative at the Deputy Commander-in-Chief for Nuclear Weapons at the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Forces in Europe, SHAPE, on November 4, 1963 ( Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ) in Rocquencourt . Subsequently, on November 22, 1965, he was appointed Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Operations ). On June 8, 1968 he was beaten Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), so that from then on he carried the suffix "Sir".

On July 1, 1968, Hodges was promoted to Lieutenant General ( Air Marshal ) and at the same time took over from Air Marshal Thomas Prickett the function of Air Officer Commanding in Chief of the Air Support Command ( RAF Air Support Command ). He remained in this post until his replacement by Air Marshal Harry Burton on October 1, 1970.

Hodges himself then became Air Member for Personnel on November 2, 1970 as the successor to Air Marshal Andrew Humphrey . Until his replacement by Air Marshal Harold Brownlow Martin on April 25, 1973, he was Head of Staff Department for Personnel Affairs in the Air Force Staff and at the same time one of the representatives of the RAF on the Air Force Board of the British Defense Council of the United Kingdom . During this time he was promoted to General ( Air Chief Marshal ) on May 1, 1971 .

Most recently, on May 31, 1973, Hodges succeeded Air Chief Marshal Frederick Rosier as Deputy Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Central Europe AFCENT ( Allied Forces Central Europe ) in Brunssum . On this post he remained until his replacement by Air Chief Marshal Peter Le Cheminant on 5 February 1976. At the same time he served between 3 September 1973 to 2 May 1976 as aide-de-camp of Queen Elizabeth II. For Air Force. On May 2, 1976 he retired from active military service.

After his retirement, in 1976 Hodges became a board member of the glass manufacturer Pilkington Group Limited . In addition, he was involved in numerous organizations and companies, such as a member of the board of directors of the health care company Bupa , as president of the Royal Air Forces Escaping Society from 1979 to 2000 and from 1979 to 1986 as chairman of the education committee of the RAF Benevolent Fund , a charity of the air forces . He was also President of the Royal Air Forces Association from 1981 to 1984 . Forty years after being appointed Commander of the Legion of Honor, he also became a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1988 . On February 14, 1992 he was also Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of the County of Kent .

His marriage to Elisabeth Blackett in 1950 resulted in two sons.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34594, HMSO, London, January 31, 1939, p. 689 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
  2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34910, HMSO, London, July 30, 1940, p. 4676 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
  3. ↑ London Gazette . No. 35260, HMSO, London, August 29, 1941, p. 5022 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
  4. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 36215, HMSO, London, October 15, 1943, p. 4618 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
  5. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 37313, HMSO, London, October 19, 1945, p. 5121 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
  6. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 40053, HMSO, London, December 29, 1953, p. 9 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
  7. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 41404, HMSO, London, June 3, 1958, p. 3519 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
  8. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 42870, HMSO, London, January 1, 1963, p. 3 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
  9. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 44600, HMSO, London, May 31, 1968, p. 6301 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
  10. ↑ London Gazette . No. 52835, HMSO, London, February 14, 1992, p. 2584 ( PDF , accessed February 19, 2016, English).
personal data
SURNAME Hodges, Lewis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hodges, Sir Lewis McDonald (full name); Bob (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Air Force officer in the United Kingdom
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Richmond , London
DATE OF DEATH January 4, 2007