Air Marshal Sir John Bagot Curtiss, (6 December 1924 – 14 September 2013) 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. He served in

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

during 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 ...

and was Air Commander of the British forces involved in the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

. He was the first

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

to reach the

three-star rank An officer of three-star rank is a senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO code of OF-8. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members. Typically, three-star officers hold the ...

of air marshal.

Early life

Curtiss was born on 6 December 1924 in England. His mother was a New Zealander and his father was Australian. His parents moved to England in 1914 after his father joined the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

to fight in World War One. He was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, and ...

, a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

all-boys

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England, and

Wanganui Collegiate School Whanganui Collegiate School (formerly Wanganui Collegiate School; see here) is a state-integrated, coeducational, day and boarding, secondary school in Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui region, New Zealand. The school is affiliated to the Anglican c ...

, then an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

all-boys boarding school in

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

, New Zealand. In 1942, he attended a university short course at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

in preparation for joining the

Military career

Curtiss was a member of the

Oxford University Air Squadron The Oxford University Air Squadron, abbreviated Oxford UAS, or OUAS, formed in 1925, is the training unit of the Royal Air Force at the University of Oxford and forms part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. OUAS is one of fifteen Universi ...

from 1942 to 1943. He began pilot training in April 1943 and learnt to fly the

Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...

. He was commissioned into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 27 October 1944 as a

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

on probation (emergency). He was given the

service number A service number is an identification code used to identify a person within a large group. Service numbers are most often associated with the military; however, they may be used in civilian organizations as well. National identification numbers may ...

187025. Having been passed over during pilot selection, he became a

. From 1944 to 1945, he flew with

. He joined No. 578 Squadron shortly after the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

and undertook attacks on retreating German forces. He also flew with No. 158 Squadron during this time. After the war Curtis served with No. 5 Squadron and then No. 29 Squadron in

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 World War II or the Second World War, oft ...

before being appointed a Director at the

RAF Staff College, Bracknell The RAF Staff College at Bracknell was a Royal Air Force staff college active for most of the second half of the 20th century. Its role was the training of staff officers in the administrative, staff and policy aspects of air force matters. I ...

in 1967. After that he became 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 ...

, Group Captain, Operations at Headquarters Strike Command and then Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters No. 11 Group in 1974. His final postings were as Director-General, Organisation in 1975, Commandant of the

in 1977 and then Air Officer Commanding No. 18 Group in 1980 before becoming Air Component Commander during the

and then retiring in 1983.

Later life

After retiring form the RAF, Curtiss maintained links with aviation and the military: he was director and chief executive of

Society of British Aerospace Companies The Society of British Aerospace Companies, formerly Society of British Aircraft Constructors, known as SBAC, was the UK's national trade association representing companies supplying civil air transport, aerospace defence, homeland security an ...

(SBAC) from 1984 to 1989, and secretary of the Defence Industries Council from 1985 to 1989. Through his work with the SBAC, he was involved in planning the Farnborough Air Show. Curtiss died on 14 September 2013, aged 88, in

Milford on Sea Milford on Sea, often hyphenated, is a large village or small town and a civil parish on the Hampshire coast. The parish had a population of 4,660 at the 2011 census and is centred about south of Lymington. Tourism and businesses for quite pr ...

, Hampshire.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Curtiss, John 1924 births 2013 deaths English military personnel Royal Air Force air marshals British navigators Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force personnel of the Falklands War People educated at Radley College People educated at Whanganui Collegiate School Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford English people of New Zealand descent English people of Australian descent Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society