Air Marshal Sir Harold John Maguire, (12 April 1912 – 1 February 2001) 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 and public servant. He was Director-General of Intelligence at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

from 1968 to 1972.

RAF career

Harold Maguire was born in

Kilkishen Kilkishen () is a village in southeast County Clare, Ireland. The village is east of Quin and north of Shannon. Demographics According to a report by Samuel Lewis in 1837, Kilkishen had a population of 519. At the 2006 Census the population ...

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

, Ireland.Obituary: Air Marshal Sir Harold Maguire
Daily Telegraph, 12 February 2001 Educated at

Wesley College, Dublin Wesley College is an independent co-educational secondary school for day and boarding students in Ballinteer, Dublin, Ireland. Wesley College is under the control of a Board of Governors, appointed each year by the Methodist Church in Ireland. W ...

and

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, Maguire joined the

in 1933.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Marshal Sir Harold Maguire
/ref> He served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as officer commanding No. 229 Squadron and then as officer commanding No. 226 Wing based in

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

. He was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

in 1946 for the gallant example he had set to his fellow captives while he was a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

during the Japanese invasions of

and

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

in 1942. After the war Maguire became station commander at

RAF Linton-on-Ouse RAF Linton-on-Ouse was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, England, north-west of York. It had satellite stations at RAF Topcliffe and Dishforth Airfield (British Army). The station opened in 1937. With the ...

and then group captain, operations at

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Britai ...

. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

and made station commander at

RAF Odiham RAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force station situated a little to the south of the village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift helicopter, the Chinook, and of the King’s Helicopter Flight (TKHF) . I ...

in 1950, became senior air staff officer at

AHQ Malta Air Headquarters Malta (AHQ Malta or Air H.Q. Malta) was an overseas command of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was established on 28 December 1941 by renaming RAF Mediterranean under Air Vice Marshal Hugh Pughe Lloyd, ...

in 1952 and director of tactical and air transport operations in 1956. Appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

in 1958, he went on to be senior air staff officer at Headquarters No. 11 Group later that year, air officer commanding No. 13 Group in 1959 and air officer commanding No. 11 Group in 1961. After that he was made senior air staff officer at Headquarters Far East Air Force in 1962, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Intelligence) in 1964 and Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Intelligence) in 1965 before retiring in 1968. He had been knighted as a

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in 1966. In 1959 Maguire, by now an air vice-marshal, was forced to land a Spitfire on a cricket pitch in Bromley only 10 minutes after flying over Whitehall in a display commemorating the Battle of Britain. As his engine failed, he spotted the company sports ground of Oxo and managed to put the aircraft down on the square, breaking the stumps at one end while the teams were off having tea. In retirement Maguire was director-general of intelligence at the

from 1968 to 1972.

Family

In 1940 he married Mary Elisabeth Wild; they had a son and a daughter.

References

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Maguire, Harold 1912 births 2001 deaths People from County Clare Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Officers of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Royal Air Force air marshals Royal Air Force personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Japan People educated at Wesley College, Dublin Heads of RAF Intelligence