Royal Air Force (Volunteer Reserve) Officers 1939-1945 -- V

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

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For detailed biographies of key RAF personnel (Air Commodore and higher) there is already an excellent website: www.rafweb.org
Only RAF officers of ranks below Air Commodore will be shown here. Abbreviations and explanations can be found at the help page.

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Van Hoegaerden,
Jacques [Philippe] Marie Louis Ferdinand
"Jack"
R.O. Van Note
Of Belgian descent.
Operated from 1943 onwards under assumed name: Grenville, Trevor Courtney Basil.
Naturalized British citizen, 25.07.1947. 07.11.1908
-
06.07.1990
Swaziland, Southern Africa

Army:

Pte. ?

2nd Lt. 03.07.1940 [137768]

WS/Lt. 03.01.1942 (reld 27.03.1942)

RAFVR:

P/O (prob) 28.03.1942 [120934]

(WS) F/O (prob) 01.10.1942

(WS) F/Lt. 28.03.1944 (reld 19.09.1946; medical unfitness for air force service)

served in the ranks, Royal Army Service Corps

03.07.1940 commissioned, General List [emergency commission]

15.07.1940 transferred, Intelligence Corps

03.07.1940 - 27.03.1942 specially employed

28.03.1942 commissioned, RAFVR (General Duties Branch) [emergency commission]

trained in Rhodesia; flew Wellingtons, Oxfords, Tiger Moths, Fairchilds, Hudsons, Dakota, Austers, Anson, DC3, Cessna Cranes, Baltimores

Van Note,
Robert Owen
R.O. Van Note
Of American descent.
?
-

(WS) F/O
(1943) [121803]

DFC
17.08.1943
?

?

commissioned, RAFVR (General Duties Branch)

01.1943
-
06.1943
9 Squadron RAF

Varian,
Desmond Victor
D.V. Varian (Photo courtesy of Mr Jonathan Stigner)
Eldest son of Dr. Amos George Varian, MA, MD, BCh (1890-1960), and Dr. Hilda Maud [Burman] Marsh, MA, MD, BCh (1879-1943), of Duncliffe, Totnes, Devon.
Married (11.12.1941, Oxford, Oxfordshire) 3rd Officer Betty Angell Money, WRNS (08.03.1920-01.1992), only daughter of Cdr. Norman Angel Kyrle Money, OBE, RN, and Gladys Gransmore, of Paignton. She remarried ((12?).1943, Folkestone district, Kent) F/Lt. Jack Hubert Stigner, RAFVR. 16.07.1920
Wandsworth district, London
-
27.12.1942
(MPK) [age 22]
[Malta Memorial, panel 2, column 2]

Ldg.Acm. ? [912913]

P/O (prob) 12.12.1940, seniority 24.11.1940 [89330]

(WS) F/O 12.12.1941, seniortiy 24.11.1941

(WS) F/Lt. 12.12.1942, seniority 24.11.1942

Education: Marlborough College; Oxford University (BA) [played hockey for both schools].

12.12.1940 commissioned, RAFVR (General Duties Branch) [emergency commission]

? - 27.12.1942 pilot, 500 Squadron RAF
[Flew Hudson coded 'W' (serial unknown) which took off at 0900 from Blida for Operation Mascara No 1 from which it failed to return.]

Veitch,
Peter Michael Craven
P.M.C. Veitch
Son of Dr. Harry Cecil Craven Veitch, and Leila Mary Hornby, of St. Neots, Huntingdonshire.
01.09.1920
St Asaph district, Denbigshire / Flintshire
-
03.11.1944
[age 24]
[Singapore Memorial, column 433]

Ldg.Acm.
? [1601675]

P/O (prob)
05.06.1943 [145073]

P/O
05.03.1944, seniortiy 05.06.1943
13.03.1944, seniority 05.09.1943

(WS) F/O
05.03.1944

05.06.1943

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

stationed in Rhodesia & India (briefly)

?
-
03.11.1944
11 Squadron RAF (Burma)

Ventris,
Michael George Francis
M.G.F. Ventris

Only child of Lt.Col. Edward Francis Vereker Ventris (d. 1938) and Anna Dorothea Janasz (d. 1940).
Married (04.1942) Lois Elizabeth Knox-Niven, daughter of Hugh William Knox-Niven; one daughter, one son.

12.07.1922
Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
-
06.09.1956
near Hatfield, Hertfordshire (car accident)

Ldg.Acm. ? [1804896]

P/O (prob) 11.02.1944 [163950]

(WS) F/O 11.08.1944

(WS) F/Lt. 11.02.1946

OBE 01.01.1955 New Year 55: for services to Mycenaean paleography

Education: privately in England and Switzerland; Stowe School (1935-39); Architectural Association School (01.1940-1942 & 1946-1951).

1942 - 1946 served Royal Air Force (UK, Canada, West Germany):

1942 - 1943 bases in Shropshire & Yorkshire, also Dumfries & Manchester

07?.1943 - 02.1944 training in Canada (11.02.1944 qualified as Air Navigator)

11.02.1944 commissioned, RAFVR (General Duties Branch) [emergency commission]

1944? - 1945 76 Squadron RAF (Breighton, Holme)

1945 - 08.1946 non-flying duties

Architect and cryptographer who in 1952 deciphered the Minoan Linear B script.
Published: Documents in Mycenaean Greek (with John Chadwick; 1956); Work-Notes on Minoan Language Research and Other Unedited Papers (1988).
Literature: John Chadwick, The Decipherment of Linear B (2nd ed. 1960); Andrew Robinson, The Man who Deciphered Linear B, the Story of Michael Ventris (2002).

Vessey,
Reginald George Beaumont
?
-

(A) P/O (prob) 31.12.1941 [115073]

31.12.1941 commissioned, RAFVR (Administrative and Special Duties Branch) [emergency commission]

Vickery,
John Peter
J.P. Vickery
Son of Arthur Ernest Vickery, and Sarah Jane Allen, of Sanderstead, Surrey.
(03?).1921
Wandsworth district, Greater London
-
05.04.1945
(flying accident) [age 24]
[Sanderstead (All Saints) Churchyard Extension, H.67]

Sgt.
? [1331839]

P/O (prob)
07.09.1942 [131532]

(WS) F/O
07.09.1943

(WS) F/Lt.
07.09.1944

01.1941

enlisted, RAFVR

10.1941

pilot training, US/Canada (under the Arnold scheme)

07.09.1942

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

1942
-
08.1943
instructor, Canada

06.1944

assigned to the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces

08.1944
-
12.1944
pilot, 43 Squadron RAF (Sardinia & Italy)

02.1945
-
05.04.1945
pilot, 595 Squadron RAF (Aberporth, Wales)

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