Air Chief Marshal Sir David Harcourt-Smith, (born 14 October 1931) is a former

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) an ...

officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Support Command from 1984 to 1986. He is the author of ''Wings Over Suez'', an account of air operations during the Sinai and Suez wars.

RAF career

Educated at

Felsted School (Keep your Faith) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Chris Townsend , r_head_l ...

and the

Royal Air Force College Cranwell The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force military academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and ...

, Harcourt-Smith was commissioned into the

in 1952.Debrett's People of Today 1994 He flew the DH Venom fighter-bomber in the Suez Crisis and

Aden Emergency The Aden Emergency, also known as the Radfan Uprising (), was an armed rebellion by NLF and FLOSY during the Cold War against the Federation of South Arabia, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, which now forms part of Yemen. Partly inspire ...

, where he won the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry and devotion to duty in 1957. Harcourt-Smith was appointed

Officer Commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, t ...

No. 54 Squadron in 1963 and Officer Commanding No. 6 Squadron in 1969 before moving on to be Station Commander at

RAF Bruggen Royal Air Force Brüggen, more commonly known as RAF Brüggen, in Germany was a major station of the Royal Air Force until 15 June 2001. It was situated next to the village of Elmpt, approximately west of Düsseldorf on the Dutch-German bo ...

in 1972 and Commandant of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1978. He went on to be Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Operational Requirements) in 1980, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Support Command in 1984 and Controller of Aircraft in 1986. As Controller of Aircraft he oversaw the introduction of the Tucano training aircraft.MoD admits Tucano delay
Flight International, 1 February 1985 He retired in 1989.

Family

In 1957 Harcourt-Smith married Dorothy Mary Entwistle; they had two sons and one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harcourt-Smith, David 1931 births Graduates of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Living people People educated at Felsted School Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force air marshals Commandants of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell