Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...

David Francis William Atcherley, (12 January 1904 – 8 June 1952) was a senior

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

officer.

Early life

David Atcherley and his twin

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

were born on 12 January 1904, and were the sons of Major General Sir Llewellyn Atcherley, Chief Constable of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

,Biography of Sir Richard Atcherley
/ref> and his wife "Nellie", Eleanor Frances (1871–1957), daughter of Richard Mickelthwait, of Ardsley House, in the valley of Deane near

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. Their father was a grandson of David Francis Atcherley of Marton Hall,

High Sheriff of Shropshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibili ...

Serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

of the

County Palatine of Lancaster Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

and

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. David Atcherley and his brother, first cousins of

William Empson Sir William Empson (27 September 1906 – 15 April 1984) was an English literary critic and poet, widely influential for his practice of closely reading literary works, a practice fundamental to New Criticism. His best-known work is his first ...

, attended

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...

in Northamptonshire.

RAF career in the Second World War

Atcherley entered

Sandhurst Military Academy The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town o ...

in 1922. In 1924 he was commissioned into the

East Lancashire Regiment The East Lancashire Regiment was, from 1881 to 1958, a line infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot and 59th (2nd Nott ...

. At the start of the war he was Commanding Officer of No. 85 Squadron. He commanded No. 253 Squadron in May 1940. Atcherley became the Commanding Officer at

RAF Fairwood Common Royal Air Force Fairwood Common or more simply RAF Fairwood Common is a former Royal Air Force Sector station located at Fairwood Common on the Gower Peninsula to the west of Swansea. It is now the location of Swansea Airport. History RAF Fa ...

in 1942 and was responsible for collecting Oberleutnant

Armin Faber '' Oberleutnant'' Armin Faber was a German ''Luftwaffe'' pilot in World War II who mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel and landed his Focke-Wulf 190 (Fw 190) intact at RAF Pembrey in South Wales. His plane was the first Fw 190 to ...

from

RAF Pembrey Pembrey Sands Air Weapons Range is a Ministry of Defence air weapons range located near the village of Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, northwest of Burry Port and south of Carmarthen, Wales. Adjacent to the weapons range site was a Royal Air Force ...

when he landed his

Focke-Wulf 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' ("Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, th ...

there on 23 June 1942. Towards the end of the war he served as senior air staff officer in

No. 2 Group No. 2 Group is a Group (military aviation unit)#United Kingdom, group of the Royal Air Force which was first activated in 1918, served from 1918–20, from 1936 through the Second World War to 1947, from 1948 to 1958, from 1993 to 1996, was react ...

Disappearance and presumed death

In June 1952, Atcherley was lost at sea, presumed dead whilst piloting a Meteor jet fighter PR Mk.10 ( from No. 13 Squadron). He took off from

RAF Kabrit The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

in Egypt at approximately 11.30 am for a 40-minute flight to

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

in Cyprus. His aircraft never arrived at Nicosia, and no radio message was received. No trace of Atcherley or his aircraft was ever found despite an extensive air-sea search being carried out by British, Israeli, Turkish and American aircraft.

Honours and awards

*29 July 1941 – Distinguished Flying Cross – Wing Commander David Francis William Atcherley, Royal Air Force. *14 July 1944 – Distinguished Service Order – Acting Air Commodore David Francis William Atcherley, Royal Air Force.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atcherley, David 1904 births 1950s missing person cases 1952 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Military personnel from York Missing aviators Officers of the Order of Leopold II People lost at sea Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force air marshals Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1952 Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst East Lancashire Regiment officers

Early life

RAF career in the Second World War

Disappearance and presumed death

Honours and awards

See also

References