Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography

The Selected biography box on the portal chooses one of the following at random when displaying the page. Follow the instructions below for adding or nominating a new biography to the list.

Usage

Royal Air Force related articles can be added directly to this list without nomination.

Template

{{Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography/Layout
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[[Category:Royal Air Force portal selected biographies|{{SUBPAGENAME}}]]
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Note that the prefix Image: is not required when using this template, also - the template will auto-wikilink the article entered in the link= field. Further information on this template can be found at Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography/Layout.

To add a new article

1. Click on the next successive empty entry or red link from this page.
2. Paste the above layout template if it isn't already there.
3. Write three or four paragraphs in the text field using information from the selected article, you may find it useful to examine the existing entries for an idea of the length required. Please try to keep the text as date neutral as possible, avoiding terms such as "is currently" and similar. If this information is essential, consider rephrasing to something akin to "joined X squadron in 2007". This is to avoid the bio snippet disagreeing with any up-to-date information that may be in the article.
4. Ensure the main title of the article is in bold and add this same article to the link field.
5. Add a free image and caption.
6. Preview the page, check that the image size is correct. If the image is too big, add 100px to the size field.
7. Save the page.
8. Go to the main Portal:Royal Air Force page.
9. Click on edit page.
10. Update "max=" to its new total for the {{Random portal component}} on the main page. The line which is edited is this one: {{Random portal component|max=4|header=Selected biography|subpage=Selected biography}} Make sure that "max=" is the same numerical value as the article entry added above (i.e. if you added article 43, then max=43)

Selected biography list

biographies 1 - 20

Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography/1 Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography/1

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Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography/2 Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, FRAeS, DL, RAF (21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force fighter ace during the Second World War. In 1928, Bader joined the RAF, but, two years later, lost both of his legs in an aircraft crash attempting a slow roll at very low level following jibes about him not wanting to perform aerobatics that day. Bader recovered, undertook refresher training, passed his check flights, and attempted to stay in the RAF but was retired for medical reasons on 30 April 1933. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he was drafted and he requested that he be assigned to the RAF. Posted to a fighter squadron in 1940 Bader scored his first kills during the Battle of France, over Dunkirk.

During the Battle of Britain Bader became a friend and supporter of Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his "Big Wing" experiments, which led him into conflict with Air Vice Marshal Keith Park. In 1941 Bader participated in fighter sweeps over Europe as the RAF adopted a more offensive stance, but in August 1941 he was forced to bail out over German-occupied France, was captured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. While a POW, Bader made as much trouble as possible, escaping in August 1942, only to be recaptured and sent to Colditz Castle, the camp for POWs who made repeated escape attempts. He also met and befriended Adolf Galland, a prominent German Ace, during his imprisonment. Liberated in April 1945, he requested a return to action but that request was denied. Douglas Bader ended the conflict with 22 aerial victories, scored in the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire and left the RAF for good in February 1946.

Bader was considered to be an inspirational British hero of the era. His brutally forthright, dogmatic and often highly opinionated views (especially against authority) coupled with his boundless energy and enthusiasm inspired adoration and frustration in equal measures with both his subordinates and peers. He died from a heart attack in 1982.

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Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography/3

File:Ian Willoughby Bazalgette.jpg

Ian Willoughby Bazalgette, VC , DFC, (19 October 1918 - 4 August 1944), was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and while serving in the Royal Air Force was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

With the end of his tour of 28 operations, Bazalgette was on a leave in April 1944 when he was "recruited" and transferred to No. 635 Squadron RAF No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group based in Norfolk. When his conversion training was completed, 25 year-old "Baz" flew as Acting Squadron Leader, taking part in a number of operations in and around the D-Day campaign, including some operations of which he was the Master Bomber.

On 4 August 1944 at Trossy St. Maximin, France, Squadron Leader Bazalgette's Lancaster bomber was amongst a formation spearhead on a daylight raid on German positions. When near his target, his bomber came under severe anti-aircraft fire from the ground, putting both starboard engines out of action and causing a serious fire. In spite of this, the squadron leader pressed on to the target, marking and bombing it accurately. He then attempted to bring the burning aircraft to safety, having ordered those members of his crew who were able to do so to bail out. Although he managed to land the plane, it immediately exploded, killing him and his remaining two wounded crew members. It was for this action that he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

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Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography/4

Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM, DSO and Two Bars, DFC (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a highly decorated British RAF pilot during the Second World War. Among the honours he received as a bomber pilot is the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. After the war, he became a charity worker, setting up Leonard Cheshire Disability and other philanthropic organisations.

He was appointed to succeed Wing Commander Guy Gibson as commander of the legendary 617 "Dambusters" Squadron in September 1943 and helped pioneer a new method of marking enemy targets for Bomber Command's 5 Group, flying in at a very low level in the face of strong defences, using first, the versatile Mosquito, then a "borrowed" P-51 Mustang fighter. This development work was the subject of some severe intraservice politics; Cheshire was encouraged by his 5 Group Commander Air Vice-Marshal Ralph Cochrane, although the 8 Group Pathfinder AOC Air Vice-Marshal Don Bennett saw this work as impinging on the responsibilities of his own command.

Cheshire was nearing the end of his fourth tour of duty in July 1944, having completed a total of 102 missions, when he was awarded the Victoria Cross. He was the only one of the 32 VC airmen to win the medal for an extended period of sustained courage and outstanding effort, rather than a single act of valour. Cheshire was, in his day, both the youngest Group Captain in the service and, following his VC, the most decorated. On his 103rd mission, he was the official British observer of the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki flying in the support B-29 Big Stink. Cheshire dedicated the rest of his life to supporting disabled people and, in 1948, he founded the charity now styled Leonard Cheshire Disability, which provides support to disabled people throughout the world. It is now in the top 30 of UK charities.

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Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography/5

Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, RAF (12 August 1918 – 19 September 1944), was the first CO of the RAF's 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid (Operation Chastise), in 1943, resulting in the destruction of two large dams in the Ruhr area. He was killed later in the war.

In 1943 he was selected to command the new 617 Squadron asked to destroy dams in the Ruhr area. To accomplish this they were provided with the bouncing bomb designed and developed by Barnes Wallis. On the night of 16 May 1943, Gibson led 19 Lancasters carrying one bomb each into the Ruhr Valley. It took five attempts to breach the Moehne Dam before Gibson led the three remaining Lancasters to attack and breach the Eder Dam. Two other dams were attacked but not breached. After the Dams raid, Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross in recognition not just of the raid, but his leadership and valour demonstrated as master bomber on many previous sorties.

Gibson was sent on a publicity tour of America after completing 174 missions over Germany but returned to operational duties in 1944, after pestering Bomber Command, and was killed along with his navigator Sqn Ldr Jim Warwick, on a bombing raid on Rheydt (a borough of Mönchengladbach) operating as a Pathfinder Master Bomber based at RAF Hemswell, when his de Havilland Mosquito crashed near Steenbergen, the Netherlands, on 19 September 1944. He was 26 years old.

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Portal:Royal Air Force/Selected biography/6

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard GCB OM GCVO DSO (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force. He has been described as the Father of the Royal Air Force.

During his formative years Trenchard struggled academically, failing many examinations and only just succeeding in meeting the minimum standard for commissioned service in the British Army. As a young infantry officer, Trenchard served in India and in South Africa. During the Boer War, Trenchard was critically wounded and as a result of his injury, he lost a lung, was partially paralysed and returned to Great Britain. While convalescing in Switzerland he took up bobsleighing and after a heavy crash, Trenchard found that his paralysis was gone and that he could walk unaided. Some months later, Trenchard returned to South Africa before volunteering for service in Nigeria. During his time in Nigeria, Trenchard commanded the Southern Nigeria Regiment for several years and was involved in efforts to bring the interior under settled British rule and quell inter-tribal violence.

In 1912, Trenchard learned to fly and was subsequently appointed as second in command of the Central Flying School. He held several senior positions in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, serving as the commander of Royal Flying Corps in France from 1915 to 1917. In 1918, he briefly served as the first Chief of the Air Staff before taking up command of the Independent Air Force in France. Returning as Chief of the Air Staff under Winston Churchill in 1919, Trenchard spent the following decade securing the future of the Royal Air Force. He was Metropolitan Police Commissioner in the 1930s and a defender of the RAF in his later years.

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Nominations

At the moment there is no requirement to nominate articles. When enough featured content relevant to this portal is available, unhide the text contained in this section and amend the Usage section above.