- Lewis Hodges
Air Chief Marshal Sir Lewis Macdonald Hodges KCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, DL (1 March 1918 –4 January 2007 ) was a pilot forSpecial Operations Executive (SOE) in theSecond World War , and later achieved high command in theRoyal Air Force andNATO .Early life
Hodges was born in Richmond in
Surrey ,England . He was educated at St Paul's School in Barnes and joined theRAF College inCranwell in 1937.War service
Known as "Bob" Hodges, he was commissioned into the RAF as a
pilot officer in December 1938, joining Bomber Command and flyingVickers Wellesley s with No. 78 Squadron atRAF Finningley , and then moving to flyHandley Page Hampden s with No. 49 Squadron in 1940. On4 September 1940 , his aircraft was damaged in an air raid onStettin , and he crash-landed inBrittany . He and a gunner who had not bailed out attempted to escape to Spain, but were arrested by theVichy police nearMarseilles . He escaped from custody atSt Hippolyte du Fort , nearNîmes , and crossed thePyrenees intoSpain , only to be arrested and imprisoned atMiranda del Ebro . He was eventually released some weeks later, reachingGibraltar and then returning to England in June 1941.He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in May 1942, while commanding a flight of No. 49 Squadron, for operations including attacks on the German
battlecruiser s "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" in February 1942. He wasmentioned in dispatches in June 1942. Wing CommanderCharles Pickard invited him to join No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron atRAF Tempsford later in 1942, commanding a flight ofArmstrong Whitworth Whitley s andHandley Page Halifax es on SOE operations. He became the commander of No. 161 Squadron in May 1943, and was promoted tosquadron leader . In addition to other operations, such as parachute drops, he landedWestland Lysander s andLockheed Hudson s inoccupied France several times, bringingVincent Auriol andFrançois Mitterrand back to England. Unaware of their identities at the time, the former made him a Commandeur of theLégion d'Honneur in 1950, and the latter a Grand Officier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1988. For his actions with SOE, he received a Bar to his DFC in May 1943, and theDistinguished Service Order in October 1943. [LondonGazette|issue=36215|date=15 October 1943|startpage=2|supp=yes|accessdaymonth=21 July|accessyear=2008] He was also awarded the FrenchCroix de guerre .He attended the
Staff College in 1944, and served with the Bomber Command operations staff. He was selected to serve in the Far East as a staff officer to Air Chief Marshal SirTrafford Leigh-Mallory . However, he requested a return to active service after his younger brother was killed, and took command of No. 357 (Special Duties) Squadron atRAF Jessore nearCalcutta in December 1944, flying Liberators, Dakotas and Lysanders in support of SOE'sForce 136 in Burma and other resistance groups in Thailand and Malaya. Fortunately for Hodges, this meant that he did not fly to India with Leigh-Mallory: the aircraft crashed in theAlps , killing all on board. Hodges received a Bar to his DSO in October 1945 [LondonGazette|issue=37313|date=16 October 1945|startpage=1|supp=yes|accessdaymonth=21 July|accessyear=2008] for his services in the Far East.Post-war
After the war, he joined the
Staff College inHaifa in 1945, and then theJoint Services Staff College at Latimer in 1947, before a stint at theAir Ministry from 1949 to 1952, and then at Bomber Command. He was promoted to wing commander in 1950. He commanded the RAF team of threeCanberra s in the London toNew Zealand Air Race in October 1953. He was in the lead until he suffered from engine problems, and ended fourth. He commandedRAF Marham from 1956, while the RAF was converted toV-bomber s. He received anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire in 1953, [LondonGazette|issue=40053|date=29 December 1953|startpage=9|supp=yes|accessdaymonth=21 July|accessyear=2008] became agroup captain in 1957, and advanced toCommander of the Order of the British Empire in 1958. [LondonGazette|issue=41404|date=3 June 1958|startpage=9|supp=yes|accessdaymonth=21 July|accessyear=2008] He was Assistant Commandant of the RAF College in Cranwell from 1959 to 1961, and became an air commodore in 1961. He attended theImperial Defence College in 1963, was promoted toair vice marshal , and appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Bath , and then served atSHAPE headquarters. He was promoted toair marshal in 1968, and advanced toKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath . [LondonGazette|issue=44600|date=31 May 1968|startpage=3|supp=yes|accessdaymonth=21 July|accessyear=2008] After staff appointments in the RAF andNATO , he was promoted toair chief marshal in 1971. He served as NATO Deputy Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Central Europe and as AirAide-de-Camp to the Queen from 1973 to 1976.He retired from the RAF in 1976. He was a director of
Pilkington Brothers (optical division) from 1979 to 1983, and a governor ofBUPA from 1987. He served as chairman of the governors of theDuke of Kent School and of the education committee of theRAF Benevolent Fund from 1979 to 1986. He was also as president of theRAF Escaping Society from 1979 to 2000, of theRoyal Air Force Association from 1981 to 1984, and also of theSpecial Forces Club and theRAF Club . An account of his wartime service for SOE was published in "Royal Air Force at War" in 1983.He lived near
Sevenoaks inKent , and became aDeputy Lieutenant of Kent in 1992. [LondonGazette|issue=52835|date=14 February 1992|startpage=2|accessdaymonth=21 July|accessyear=2008] He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth Blackett. They were married in 1950, and had two sons together.References
External links
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2129992.ece Obituary] , "
The Independent ",6 January 2007
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=4S514OZ3NFS4XQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/01/05/db0501.xml Obituary] , "The Daily Telegraph ",5 January 2007
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2536007,00.html Obituary] , "The Times ",8 January 2007
* [http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Hodges.htm Air of Authority — A History of RAF Organisation — Air Chf Mshl Sir Lewis Hodges]-
-Persondata
NAME=Hodges, Lewis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Pilot andAir Chief Marshal
DATE OF BIRTH=1 March 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH= Richmond,Surrey ,United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH=4 January 2007
PLACE OF DEATH=
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