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Royal Air Force (Volunteer Reserve) (RAF(VR)) Officers
1939-1945

 

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Jackson,
[Prof.] Derek Ainslie
D.A. Jackson
D.A. Jackson
D.A. Jackson
D.A. Jackson
Son of late Sir Charles James Jackson.
Married 1st, Poppet John, daughter of Augustus John. Married 2nd (29.12.1936) Hon. Pamela Freeman­Mitford (marr. diss. 1951), 2nd
daughter of 2nd Baron Redesdale.
Married 3rd (1951) Janetta (marr. diss. 1956), daughter of Rev. G.H. Woolley, VC, OBE, MC and former wife of Robert Kee; one daughter.
Married 4th (1957) Consuelo
Regina Maria (marr. diss. 1959), daughter of late William S. Eyre and widow of Prince Ernst Ratibor zu Hohenlohe Schillingsfürst.
Married 5th (1966) Barbara (née Skelton, former wife of Cyril Connolly, CBE, CLit, and of A.G. (later Lord) Weidenfeld).
Married 6th (1968) Marie­Christine, daughter of Baron Georges Reille.

23.06.1906
Hampstead, London
-
20.02.1982
Lausanne, Switzerland
(A) P/O (prob)
28.06.1940 [81405]
P/O (prob)
28.07.1940
P/O
28.06.1941
(WS) F/O
28.07.1941
(WS) F/Lt.
28.07.1942
(WS) Sq.Ldr.
07.08.1943 (Emergency List) (reld 10.02.1954; retaining rank of W/Cdr.)
(A) W/Cdr.
1943
Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE
01.01.1945
New Year 45
Distinguished Flying Cross DFC
24.06.1941
*
Air Force Cross AFC
01.01.1944
?
Officer, Legion of Merit (USA) LM
25.04.1947
?
Officier, Légion d'Honneur (France) LegH
?
?

* This officer has displayed outstanding ability during recent night fighting operations.

Education: Rugby; Trinity College, Cambridge (MA Cantab and Oxon; DSc Oxon)

When war broke out Jackson joined a small group of researchers working for the Admiralty in the Clarendon but in 1940, after Winston Churchill's intervention, Lindemann released him to join the Royal Air Force. Jackson flew as a navigator from spring 1941 until summer 1942 when, at Lindemann's instigation, he was made chief airborne radar officer of Fighter Command. He was involved in trials of ‘window’, metallic chaff thrown from aeroplanes to confuse enemy radar, and especially with ways of interfering with German night defences, either by jamming their transmissions or homing onto them. All told, Jackson flew 1100 hours as a navigator on active service and on dangerous trials. For his contribution to the air war he was awarded the DFC (1941), AFC (1944), was appointed OBE (1945) for valour, and was made an officer of the Legion of Merit (USA).

28.06.1940


commissioned, RAFVR (General Duties Branch) [emergency commission]
(1941)


604 Squadron RAF
Lecturer, 1934-47, Professor of Spectroscopy, 1947-57, University of Oxford. Research Professor, Faculté des Sciences, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Orsay, France. FRS, 1947.
Published: numerous papers in Proceedinigs of the  Royal Society, Journal de Physique, Physical Review, Zeitschrift für Physik.

Literature
: Simon Courtauld, As I was going to St Ives : a life of Derek Jackson (2007)
James,
Horace Gordon
H.G. James
Son of Harry Gordon James and Lilian May James, of Isleworth, Middlesex.
11.01.1915
Fulham, Greater London, Middlesex
-
05.07.1942
(KIA) [age 27]
[El Alamein War Cemetery, IV.E.29]
Sgt.
? [1204245]
P/O (prob)
07.05.1942 [137564]
27.09.1940


enlisted, RAFVR
?
-
16.12.1941
No. 61 Operational Training Unit (Heston)
16.12.1941
-
07.05.1942
145 Squadron RAF (Yorkshire & Middle East)
07.05.1942


commissioned, RAFVR (General Duties Branch)
07.05.1942
-
05.07.1942
145 Squadron RAF (Middle East)
[killed in a Mk VB Spitfire number AB411 due to oxygen failure]
Jennings,
Sydney George
S.G. Jennings (Photo courtesy of Mr Richard Jennings)
Son of William Giles Jennings, and Sarah
Elizabeth Jennings.
Married (1941) Gwendoline Constance Adam; three sons, one daughter.
04.04.1907
Heston, Middlesex
-
1964
F/Sgt.
? [1241923]
P/O (prob)
18.01.1945 [190972]
P/O
20.07.1945
(WS) F/O
20.07.1945 (emgcy ?) (reld 10.02.1954; retaining rank of F/O))
Distinguished Flying Cross DFC
16.11.1945
?
18.01.1945


commissioned, RAFVR (General Duties Branch) [emergency commission]
(1945)


flight engineer, 166 Squadron RAF
?
-
10.02.1954
Emergency List
Johnson,
Charles Alfred
C.A. Johnson
Son of Richard Edgar and Ethel Johnson, of Pontypool, Monmouthshire.
1916 ?
-
25.06.1943
[age 27]
[Runnymede Memorial, panel 125]
Ldg.Acm.
? [1415229]
P/O (prob)
04.12.1942 [135112]
(WS) F/O (prob)
04.06.1943
04.12.1942


commissioned RAFVR (General Duties Branch)
?
-
25.06.1943
51 Squadron RAF
[his Halifax II (JD250 MH-R) took off from Snaith at 23.13 hrs for an operation against Wuppertal; was shot sown by night-fighter (Ofw. Karl-Georg Pfeiffer of IV./NJG 1), crashing at 01.45 hrs in the sea west of Noordwijk, the Netherlands]
Johnson,
James Edgar
"Johnnie"
J,E, Johnson J,E, Johnson
Married Pauline Ingate; two sons.
09.03.1915
Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire
-
30.01.2001
High Peak, Cheshire
see: www.rafweb.org

CB 1965; CBE 1960; DSO 1943 and Bars, 1943, 1944; DFC 1941 and Bar, 1942; DL
Education Loughborough Sch.; Nottingham Univ.
Work Civil Engr and Mem. of RAFVR until 1939; served with 616 Sqdn AAF, 1940-1942; 610 Sqdn AAF, 1943; Wing Comdr Flying: Kenley, 1943; 127 Wing, 1944; Officer Comdg: 125 Wing (2nd TAF), 1944-1945; 124 Wing (2nd TAF), 1945-1946; RCAF Staff Coll., 1947-1948; USAF (Exchange Officer), 1948-1950; served Korea (with USAF), 1950-1951; OC, RAF Wildenrath (2nd TAF), 1952-1954; Air Ministry, 1954-1957; Officer Commanding, RAF Cottesmore, Bomber Command, 1957-1960; idc 1960; Senior Air Staff Officer, No 3 Group, Bomber Command, Mildenhall, Suffolk, 1960-1963; AOC, Air Forces Middle East, Aden, 1963-1965; retired. DL Leicester, 1967. Order of Leopold, 1945, Croix de Guerre, 1945 (Belgium); Legion of Merit, 1950, DFC 1943, Air Medal, 1950 (USA); Légion d'Honneur (France), 1988.
Positions Consultant, ‘Johnnie’ Johnson Housing; Director of Companies in Canada, South Africa and UK.
Publications Wing Leader, 1956; Full Circle, 1964; The Story of Air Fighting, 1985; (jtly) Glorious Summer, 1990; (jtly) Courage in the Skies, 1992; (jtly) Winged Victory, 1995.
Jones,
Raymond Stewart
R.S. Jones
?
-
Wt.Off.
? [745356]
P/O (prob)
21.09.1943 [159041]
F/O
?
F/Lt.
? (reld 15.04.1946)
21.09.1943


commissioned RAFVR (General Duties Branch) [emergency commission]
Julian,
Eric William
E.W. Julian (Photo courtesy of Peneople Julian)
14.01.1914
-
04.1991
Kettering, Northamptonshire
Sgt.
? [656341]
P/O (prob)
17.08.1943 [171015]
P/O
17.02.1944
(WS) F/O
17.02.1944
P/O
26.06.1947 (reld 25.09.1951)
F/O
?
F/Lt.
01.03.1951, seniority 06.12.1950 (reld 02.02.1958)
Mentioned in Despatches MID
14.06.1945
?
17.08.1943


commissioned RAFVR (General Duties Branch) [emergency commission]
26.06.1947
-
02.02.1948
commissioned RAFVR (Training Branch) [emergency commission]
02.02.1948
-
25.09.1951
commissioned Reconstituted RAFVR
02.02.1953
-
02.02.1958
extension of service by 5 years
       

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