Bernard Chacksfield

Infobox Military Person
name= Sir Bernard Chacksfield
lived= 13 April 1913 - 27 December 1999
placeofbirth=Ilford, Essex, England
placeofdeath=Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, England


caption=
nickname= Chacks
allegiance=flag|United Kingdom
serviceyears= 1927–1968
rank= Air Vice Marshal
branch= air force|United Kingdom
commands= No. 910 Wing RAF
No. 22 Group RAF
RAF Regiment
unit=
battles= Second World War
awards=Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Cloud and Banner Decoration with Special Rosette
laterwork=

Air Vice Marshal Sir Bernard Albert Chacksfield KBE CB RAF (13 April 1913 – 27 December 1999) was a senior Royal Air Force officer in the 1950s and 1960s and later a chief commissioner of the The Scout Association and chairman of the Burma Star Association.

Chacksfield joined the Royal Air Force in 1927 as an apprentice aircraft engineer at RAF Halton and later at RAF Cranwell. He was selected for flying training and gaining a commission as a Pilot Officer in 1933. He served on the North West Frontier in 1933 as a Westland Wapiti pilot. By 1944 Chacksfield was in command of No. 910 Wing in Burma operating the Republic Thunderbolt fighter-bomber. By the end of the war he had been mentioned in dispatches four time. From 1945 he became an air officer and served in the Air Ministry and later with NATO. He served in a number of senior positions until finally becoming Commandant-General of the RAF Regiment in 1963. Chacksfield retired in 1968 as an Air Vice-Marshal.

With a long time interest in the Scout movement he was appointed in 1970 as chief commissioner for the Scout Association later being awarded the movements highest award, the Silver Wolf in 1975. In retirement he became chairman on the Burma Star Association until his death from cancer in 1999.

Honours and awards

* 14 June 1945 - Appointed an Officer of the British Empire.
* 25 June 1946 - Awarded the Cloud and Banner Decoration with Special Rosette by the Chinese government.
* 10 June 1961 - Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
* 1 January 1968 - Appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

References

* [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/73727?_fromAuth=1 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - Sir Bernard Albert Chacksfield]
* [http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Chacksfield.htm Air Vice Marshal Sir Bernard Chacksfield (33051)]

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