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

 

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Vallee,
Ralph Andrew Paul
R.A.P. Vallee
Son of Paul Gaston Vallee (1883-1949), and Frances Emily Waites (1870-1960).
Married ((06?).1945, Hampstead district, Middlesex) Jean E. McEwen; four sons, one daughter.
22.04.1911
Twickenham, Middlesex
-
25.04.1974
Huntingdon district, Huntingdonshire
P/O (prob) 08.02.1940 [77505]
(WS) F/O 08.08.1941
(T) F/Lt. 01.09.1942 (reld 15.03.1945; medical unfitness)
08.02.1940     commissioned, RAFVR (Administrative and Special Duties Branch) [emergency commission]
28.02.1940     HQ British Allied Air Force, British Expeditionary Force (France) (wounded in the retreat to Dunkirk)
11.07.1940     Department of Intelligence of the Chief of Air Staff
04.04.1941     12 Group RAF (on operations)
04.10.1941     13 Group RAF
20.10.1942     145 Wing RAF (India) (on operations)
01.09.1943     221 Group RAF (India)
Van Hoegaerden,
Jacques [Philippe] Marie Louis Ferdinand
"Jack"
J.M.L.F. Van Hoegaerden (Photo courtesy of Mr Michel Van Hoegaerden)
Son (with one brother) of Jean Léon Ferdinand van Hoegaerden (1885-1949), pilot and film actor, and Claire Marie Léonie Louisa Vergote de Lantsheere (1887-1966).
Married 1st (25.11.1930, Brussels; marriage dissolved 25.10.1949) Emilienne Leontine Françoise van Coppenolle (15.04.1908 - ), daughter of Hector Alphonse Léon van Coppenolle, and Marie Eudoxie Prudence Sinave; one daughter.
Married 2nd Iléana d'Adhémar de Cransac de Panat (25.11.1908 - ).
Married 3rd Gertrude van de Vyvere; one daughter, one son.
Operated from 1943 onwards under assumed name: Grenville, Trevor Courtney Basil.
Naturalized British citizen, 25.07.1947.
07.11.1908
Brussels, Belgium
-
06.07.1990
Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South 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]
Distinguished Flying Cross 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) 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.
]
Varvill,
John Kenneth
J.K. Varvill (Photo courtesy of Mr Michael Varvill) J.K. Varvill (Photo courtesy of Mr Michael Varvill)
J.K. Varvill  
Youngest of the four sons of Michael Varvill (1848-1894), and Ada Winder (1855-1903), of York.
Brother of Lt.Col. Michael Noel Varvill, OBE, MC, RE, and Lt.Col. Bernard Varvill, MC, RAMC.
15.01.1892
York, East Riding of Yorkshire

-
16.04.1957
St Marys Hospital, Newport, Isle of Wight (formerly of West Wittering, Sussex)
P/O (prob) 21.02.1941 [61390]
(WS) F/O 21.02.1942 (Emgcy List) (reld 10.02.1954; retaining rank of F/Lt.)
(A) F/Lt. ?
Military Cross MC 26.03.1918 Battle of Diyala River on 7-10 March 1917
Mention in Despatches MID 15.08.1917 Battle of Diyala River on 7-10 March 1917
Education: Gresham's School; Magdalene College, Cambridge (BA 1913).
Solicitor.
WW I     T/Capt., East Lancashire Regiment
21.02.1941     commissioned, RAFVR (Administrative and Special Duties Branch) [emergency commission]
      Intelligence officer in East Anglia and later on the Continent firstly within RAF’s 88 Squadron (Blenheims and Bostons) then in a Mosquito squadron
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 M.G.F. Ventris
M.G.F. Ventris 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
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division) 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
R.G.B. Vessey (Photo courtesy of Mrs Diana Davies)
?
-
(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)
Vlasto,
Alexis Peter
A.P. Vlasto (Photo courtesy of Caroline Shelton) A.P. Vlasto (Photo courtesy of Caroline Shelton)
Son (with one brother and two sisters) of Peter Theodore Vlasto (1879-1941), and Aziza Katherine Pallis (1884-1986).
Married (19.03.1945, Kensington district, London) Hilda Joan "Jill" Medway (30.03.1916 - 15.09.1968); one daughter, one son.

27.11.1915
Toxteth Park district, Lancashire
-
20.07.2000
Cambridge district, Cambridgeshire
F/Lt. 11.07.1940 (reld 08.10.1942; on appointment to RAFVR)
F/O 08.10.1942 [136477]
(WS) F/Lt. 01.02.1945
Education: Eton (King's Scholar). King's College, Cambridge 1928-38 (MA 1946, PhD 1953).
Junior Assistant, Air Ministry, 1938.
11.07.1940     commissioned, Reserve of Air Force Officers (General Duties Branch) (Class CC)
08.10.1942     commissioned, RAFVR (Administrative and Special Duties Branch) (for administrative and miscellaneous duties)
      cryptographer during WWll at Bletchley Park, England, breaking German and Russian codes; served in N. Africa and Palestine 1941-42; led the code-breaking team on Japanese army air force traffic ('3366') 1943-45.
Historian and author. Lecturer in Slavonic Studies at Cambridge 1954-83 and a Fellow, Selwyn College, Cambridge 1969-2000.
Published: The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom (1968); A History of the Russian Language (1975).
       

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