Thomas Prickett

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Sir Thomas Other Prickett KCB DSO DFC (born July 31, 1913 in Lindfield , Sussex - † January 23, 2010 ) was a British Air Force officer in the Royal Air Force , who last served in the rank of General ( Air Chief Marshal ) between 1968 and 1970 air Force procurement and organization ( air member for Supply and organization ) in the air Force Committee ( air Force Board ) of the Ministry of Defense was. During World War II he was a famous pilot of Avro Lancaster - bombers , who for his military merits with the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). During the Suez Crisis , he served as Chief of the Air Force Staff for Operation Musketeer , the military operation in the Suez War .

Life

Pilot training and World War II

Prickett completed his education at the renowned Haileybury and Imperial Service College and after graduating in 1932 began his professional career as deputy head of a sugar cane plantation of Begg Sutherland Ltd in British India , of which he soon became manager. During his stay in India, he volunteered with the Bihar Light Horse , a cavalry reserve unit of the British Indian Army . After returning to Great Britain, he joined the Royal Air Force on January 9, 1938 as a short service commissioner and began his aviation training two weeks later on January 22, 1938 at No. 1 Flying Training School RAF ) at the RAF Netheravon military airfield . He then attended a trainer course at the Central Flying School (CFS) from October 23, 1938 and was promoted to lieutenant ( pilot officer ) two days later on October 25, 1938 .

Two months later, on December 23, 1938, Prickett took on a job as a QFI ( Qualified Flying Instructur ) flight instructor at No. 5 Flying Training School RAF and was promoted to first lieutenant ( Flying Officer ) on April 25, 1940 . After he was temporarily pilot in command of a military flight school in Southern Rhodesia , he became a pilot in No. 148 Squadron RAF and promoted to Captain ( Flight Lieutenant ) on April 25, 1941 . Due to the growing demand for pilots, the British Flying Training School Program (BFTSP) was launched as early as 1941 during the Second World War , which envisaged the establishment of seven flight training schools in the USA . In July 1942 he was then Senior Flying Instructor (SFI ) at No. 5 British Flying Training School RAF in Clewiston in the US state of Florida . For his services there he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on October 6, 1942.

After his return to the UK in April 1943 Prickett flight training commander was the heavy bombers of the type Avro Lancaster equipped No. 103 Squadron RAF at the RAF Elsham Wolds Air Force Base. Because of his military achievements and services in this unit, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on September 24, 1943. In October 1943, however, he returned to the United States and was part of the RAF Mission in Washington, DC until the end of the war

Staff officer in the post-war period

After the end of the Second World War, Prickett first worked as a flight instructor and then completed retraining as a pilot for jet aircraft . On March 26, 1946 he was accepted as a professional soldier ( Permanent Commission ) in the rank of Major ( Squadron Leader ) in the Royal Air Force, with recruitment and instruction first on September 1, 1945 and later on February 25, 1947 again on the Backdated January 1, 1944. On July 1, 1947, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ( Wing Commander ), which promotion was also dated back to October 1, 1946. After other interim assignments in the RAF, he became a Commanding Officer of the RAF Tangmere Air Force Base in 1949 . On December 8, 1951, he changed as an officer for operations and training in the staff of the air force in the Middle East MEAF ( Middle East Air Force ) and was promoted to Colonel ( Group Captain ) on July 1, 1952 . He then went to the Federal Republic of Germany for RAF Germany , where he had been the commander of the RAF Jever air base since June 1954 .

After finishing his employment in Germany, Prickett began a staff course at Imperial Defense College in London . This course was shortened, however, since he was chief of staff of the air force units commanded by Air Vice Marshal Denis Barnett for Operation Musketeer , the military operation in the Suez War, during the Suez Crisis from August 1956 . His staff, which he moved to the headquarters in Cyprus on October 21, 1956 , included several fellow students from the Imperial Defense College. At the end of the conflict he took over on December 23, 1956, the function of head of the briefing of the Air Staff Briefing and was on June 13, 1957 Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). In early 1958 he became head of the policy department in the Air Force Staff and then on May 8, 1958 as Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) chief of staff of No. 1 Group RAF . There he was promoted to the Air Commodore on July 1, 1958 .

Promotion to Air Chief Marshal

After his promotion to Major General ( Air Vice Marshal ) on July 1, 1960 Prickett was on December 7, 1960 Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations ). He was then Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Policy & Planning) from February 4, 1963 , before becoming Air Chief Marshal Denis Barnett's successor on September 25, 1964 as Commander-in-Chief of the Air Forces in the Middle East NEAF ( RAF Near East Air Force ) was. He was also the commander of the British Armed Forces in Cyprus, BFC ( British Forces Cyprus ) and also head of the administration of the military bases in Cyprus SBAA ( Sovereign Base Areas Administration ). During this time he was beaten on June 12, 1965 to the Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KCB) and has since had the suffix "Sir". In addition, he was promoted to Lieutenant General ( Air Marshal ) on January 1, 1966 . On November 21, 1966, Air Vice Marshal Edward Gordon Jones succeeded him on the post of Supreme Commander of NEAF, Commander of the BFC and Administrator of the SBAA .

Prickett himself succeeded Air Chief Marshal Kenneth Cross on January 27, 1967 as Commanding General AOC-in-C ( Air Officer Commanding in Chief ) of the Air Transport Command ( RAF Transport Command ), which on August 1, 1967 became Air Support Command ( RAF Air Support Command ) has been renamed. Air Marshal Lewis Hodges succeeded him in this capacity on July 1, 1968 .

Thereupon Prickett followed on September 14, 1968 Air Marshal Charles Broughton as a representative of the Air Forces for procurement and organization ( Air Member for Supply and Organization ) in the Air Force Board of the Department of Defense . In this service he was promoted to General ( Air Chief Marshal ) on May 1, 1969 and retired on October 1, 1970 at his own request from active military service. His successor as Air Member for Supply and Organization was then Air Marshal Neil Wheeler two months later on December 1, 1970 .

After his retirement moved Prickett 1970 in the economy and was until 1978 Director of Goodwood Estates and also a managing director of Goodwood Terrena Ltd . He was married twice. His first marriage to the American Betty Prickett in 1942 resulted in a son and daughter. A year after the death of his first wife, he married Shirley Westerman in 1985.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34476, HMSO, London, January 25, 1938, p. 518 ( PDF , accessed on February 26, 2016, English).
  2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34566, HMSO, London, November 1, 1938, p. 6820 ( PDF , accessed on February 26, 2016, English).
  3. ↑ London Gazette . No. 34870, HMSO, London, June 11, 1940, p. 3519 ( PDF , accessed on February 26, 2016, English).
  4. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 35731, HMSO, London, October 6, 1942, p. 4342 ( PDF , accessed on February 26, 2016, English).
  5. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 36183, HMSO, London, September 24, 1943, p. 4245 ( PDF , accessed on February 26, 2016, English).
  6. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 37511, HMSO, London, March 26, 1946, p. 1532 ( PDF , accessed on February 26, 2016, English).
  7. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 43447, HMSO, London, September 25, 1964, p. 8212 ( PDF , accessed February 20, 2016, English).
  8. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 43667, HMSO, London, June 12, 1965, p. 5473 ( PDF , accessed on February 26, 2016, English).
personal data
SURNAME Prickett, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Prickett, Sir Thomas Other (full name); Bob (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Air Force officer in the United Kingdom
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Lindfield , Sussex
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 2010