Alan Boxer

Air Vice-Marshal Sir Alan Boxer, KCVO CB DSO DFC, senior Royal Air Force officer, was born 1 December 1916, died 26 April 1998.

A New Zealander he took a series of short-term jobs in order to help the family finances, he father having died when he was nine, whilst managing to take flying lessons in his spare time. With war clouds looming over Europe he decided to leave New Zealand in 1938 and join the RAF. Having already amassed 175 hours he found himself posted as a instructor following his service flying training. He remained in Training Command for two years, but eventually in 1942 he was posted to an operational unit, No 161 Squadron at Tempsford. Here he commanded the Hudson Flight and was involved in the delivery and collection of SOE Agents from occupied France, although many of his missions were long ranging to Scandinavia and Poland often lasting 13 hours. A spell as a staff officer at the Air ministry co-ordinating SOE flights was followed by a return to 161, this time as CO.

After the war he attended both the RAF Staff College and the Army College at Haifa before being given an exchange posting with the USAAF. Here he flew B29s on the West Coast of America including a six-month tour of duty taking part in operations during the Korean War. Following his return from the USA he spent a year at the Central Fighter Establishment before being appointed to the directing staff of the RAF Staff College.

After the Staff College he was tasked with reforming No 7 Squadron as a Valiant unit. Although the squadron officially reformed on 1 November 1956 at Honington, it was the end of the month before he was able to collect the first of its aircraft from the Vickers factory at Wisley. One of the tasks he performed with 7 Squadron was the transporting of an ‘H’ bomb to Christmas Island for the forthcoming tests. This necessitated him landing in the USA to re-fuel without being able to divulge the nature of his payload. Promotion to Group Captain brought command of the Victor base at Wittering. A staff post at HQ Bomber Command and attendance at the Imperial Defence College was followed by two Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) posts. The first at HQ No 1 Group and the second as the last person to hold the post at Bomber Command before it was amalgamated with Fighter Command to form Strike Command.

In 1967 he became the first RAF officer to hold the post of Defence Services Secretary, which involved liaising between the Ministry of Defence and Buckingham Palace. As such he was heavily involved with the Prince of Wales’s investiture at Caernarfon in 1969. Retiring in 1970 he spent a brief period working as a planning inspector with the Department of the Environment but soon became despondent with the Civil Service and left to concentrate on his other two great passions sailing and conservation.

KCVO – 13 Jun 1970, CB – 1 Jan 1968, DSO – 23 Mar 1945, DFC – 26 March 1943, VM (SC) – 21 Jan 1944, BSM – 25 May 1951, AM (US) – 25 May 1951

Reference

* [http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Boxer_AHC.htm Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - Air Vice-Marshal Sir Alan Boxer]