Page 29 - issue22.03.2019

Royal Air Force News Friday, March22, 2019 P21

Obituary
Former Regt Commandant

General AVM David Hawkins

IR VICE-MARSHAL radar site at Bishop’s Court, and in high-readiness operational Regt
David Hawkins, who the infantry role in support of the squadrons and for the specialist
has died aged 81, rose Army on the streets of Belfast. training of all ranks.
A from being a National In March 1974 he assumed He was promoted to Air
Service gunner in the RAF command of The Queen’s Colour Commodore after attending Nato
Regiment to becoming its head as Squadron, the custodian of The Defence College.
Commandant General. Queen’s Colour for the RAF in the UK. His final four years of service
Hawkins started his National During Hawkins’ command, were spent in senior posts in MoD,
Service in 1955 and was soon the QCS was tasked with public before becoming the Director RAF
selected for officer training ceremonial duties including Regt in September 1990.
and received a short-service the Mounting of the Guard at In January 1991, on promotion
commission in September 1956. Buckingham Palace, Windsor to Air Vice-Marshal, he became
After a probationary period Castle and the Tower of London. the Commandant General and
with 37 Sqn, a light anti-aircraft Hawkins and members of his the Director General of Security
unit in Cyprus, he was awarded a squadron found themselves in (RAF), the last two-star officer to
cadetship leading to a permanent demand on less formal occasions hold these appointments.
commission. He was the last RAF including an appearance as guests His roles included providing
Regiment officer to complete of Bruce Forsyth on his TV specialist airbase defence and
the course at the Royal Military programme, The Generation Game security policy and guidance to the
Academy, Sandhurst, before the when they performed a sequence Air Force Board, together with the
RAF assumed sole responsibility of their immaculate drill for the development and implementation
for training its Regiment officers. contestants to emulate. At the end of all RAF capabilities in ground,
In June 1960, Hawkins returned of his three-year tour with QCS he nuclear, biological and chemical
to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus as a was appointed MBE. (NBC) defence together with
flight commander with 63 Sqn, From November 1976 he ground-based air defence. He
RAF Regiment. The squadron was specialised as the MoD staff officer retired on March 1993 having been
later re-deployed to Singapore to in the special safety of nuclear appointed CB.
provide airfield defence for the weapon convoys before moving In November 1994 he was
RAF’s main airfield at Tengah. in July 1979 as the head of the appointed a Gentleman Usher to
In 1963 he was selected to be Survive-to-Operate Section within HM The Queen, a post he held
the Aide-de-Camp to the Chief of the Nato Headquarters of the Allied until his seventieth birthday in
the Air Staff and this was followed Air Forces Central Europe, based at 2007 when he was appointed LVO.
by three years as an instructor at Ramstein in Germany. In 1994 he was also appointed as
the RAF College Cranwell, before from Singapore Hawkins was Regiment (LAA) at Catterick. On promotion to Group Captain the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod,
returning in June 1968 to 63 Sqn in assigned in 1969 to the Air Attaché’s Although equipped with the in 1982, he served in senior RAF responsible for the management of
Singapore as the deputy squadron office in Bangkok, as a member of Bofors L40/70 anti-aircraft gun, Regt posts at HQ Strike Command Black Rod’s staff and deputising
commander. He qualified as a a Commonwealth airbase defence the squadron deployed every before taking command of the for Black Rod when necessary; he
parachutist and joined the 63 Sqn team covering the Vietnam War. year for four-monthly periods to RAF Regt at Catterick where, as stood down in 1999 on completion
Parachute Team. Returning to the UK in 1971, he Northern Ireland in the defence of Commandant, he was responsible of his five-year appointment. David
With the British withdrawal assumed command of 37 Sqn RAF the airfields at Aldergrove and the for the support of a number of Hawkins died on January 31.

New Zealand-born WWII Spitfire pilot Bill Burge

EW ZEALANDER on the Normandy coast. Within commander.
Squadron Leader Bill days of the landings, he landed at He flew 18 long-range sorties,
Burge flew 142 combat Bazenville, one of the first hastily escorting the bomber force and
N sorties in Spitfire constructed airstrips in Normandy some flights were at extreme range
and Mustang fighters and was used by fighters. when he went to Hamburg and
awarded the DFC. Although determined to carry Leipzig, some sorties lasting as long
He enlisted in the Royal New on flying, his Wing Commander as six hours.
Zealand Air Force in July 1941 and, ordered him to have a rest and he At the end of the war he
after completing his elementary left the squadron on July 11. was awarded the DFC for his
flying training, he left for Canada Anxious to keep flying fighters ‘outstanding ability as a leader and
and completed his training under he joined the Air Fighting his high standard of courage and
the British Commonwealth Air Development Unit at Wittering. devotion to duty’.
Training Plan. He arrived in the UK He unit was a non-combat Many years later the French
in July 1942 and began his training squadron whose role was to test Government appointed him as a
to be a fighter pilot. new marks of aircraft before RAF Knight of the Legion d’Honneur.
He was posted to 64 Squadron he flew in combat on 35 occasions acceptance; to test modifications Burge returned to the Air
in October and flew the Spitfire Vb is still flying. to aircraft before being applied Fighting Development Unit where
and then the Mark IX. That particular Spitfire, serial no generally to a particular variant; he converted to the twin-engine
The squadron’s offensive and MH 434, is now owned by the “The to test equipment developed for Hornet fighter. He left the RAF at
defensive sorties provided cover for Old Flying Machine Company” use in or on aircraft and to test-fly the end of 1946 and returned to
channel shipping and Burge and based at Duxford Airfield, repaired aircraft. New Zealand where he became an
his colleagues undertook offensive Cambridgeshire. Burge flew a wide range of air traffic controller for the New
operations over enemy-occupied The squadron’s Spitfires were fitted aircraft including the RAF’s first jet Zealand Transport Department.
France and Belgium. with bomb racks and Burge attacked fighter, the Meteor. Once he discovered that Spitfire been lucky enough to fly’
After 40 operations he was the V-1 ‘Flying Bomb’ sites in northern After eight months he joined MH 434 had been restored to flying He went on to say: “It was the
posted to 222 (Natal) Squadron in France on 12 occasions. 126 Squadron based at Bentwaters condition, he contacted the Old only aircraft I ever became attached
November 1943. During the period of the in Suffolk. The squadron was Flying Machine Company and to…the perfect Spitfire”.
Over the period to July 10, D-Day landings Burge attacked equipped with the Mustang III sent a series of letters outlining his In later life Bill Burge moved to
1944 222 (Natal) Squadron the French railway system and long-range fighter. experiences flying the aircraft. Queensland in Australia and he
occupied a sequence of 11 airfields. carried out beachhead patrols Within a month he re-joined He described it as ‘the most was 99 when he died at the end of
Remarkably, one of the Spitfires that during the amphibious landings 64 Squadron, this time as a flight stable and easy aircraft I have ever January.