John Jellicoe Blair, DFC (1919-2004) was a Jamaican

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 ...

(RAF) pilot and navigator for

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

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 ...

. Having been assigned to 102 (Ceylon) Squadron in December 1944, he navigated

Halifax Bomber The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its or ...

s. In 1945, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Early life and education

John Jellicoe Blair was born in 1919 in St Elizabeth, Jamaica, the eighth and youngest sibling born unexpectedly seven years after the previous child. By the time he began school at age five, his sister Jemima was already a teacher at the school. At age ten he moved to stay with his eldest sister Clarissa, who was also a teacher, and later lived with his brother Stanley, who became a school inspector. They later settled in

Ocho Rios Ocho Rios (Spanish for "Eight Rivers") is a town in the parish of Saint Ann on the north coast of Jamaica, and is more widely referred to as ''Ochi'' by locals. Beginning as a sleepy fishing village, Ocho Rios has seen explosive growth in the ...

for a short while before Blair returned to his parents in St Elizabeth, where at the age of 17 he completed his early education.

Early career

On his second attempt Blair gained admission to Mico Training College in Kingston and spent three years there before qualifying as an elementary school teacher. For the subsequent one and a half years, he taught at the Greenwich School, during which time the

had begun.

Second World War

Training

In 1941, unable to join the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

due to the

colour bar Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Internati ...

, Blair applied to join the

(RAF) that had recently lifted the colour restriction due to its high casualties. In October 1942 at the age of 23, he left Jamaica bound for

RCAF Station Moncton RCAF Station Moncton or RCAF Aerodrome Moncton or BCATP Station Moncton, was a Second World War training air station of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). It was located east of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. History World War ...

, Canada, with around 30 other RAF volunteers. The following month, Blair and the other 20 that still remained of his group were sent to a training base for the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

, where he learned Canadian military and Air Force systems before completing his basic training in Toronto. Selected for flying, he was sent along with his friend

Arthur Wint Arthur Stanley Wint OD MBE (25 May 1920 – 19 October 1992) was a Jamaican Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot during the Second World War, sprinter, physician, and later High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Competing at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic ...

to study at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

before eventually being selected for training in navigation. After completing flight school in January 1943 and subsequently passing the navigator's course, he trained on Ansons before returning to Monckton. In January 1944, both Blair as navigator and Winton as pilot, boarded a ship at Halifax and disembarked at

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.. Blair was eventually posted to

RAF Kinloss Royal Air Force Kinloss or RAF Kinloss is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near the village of Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north east of Scotland. The RAF station opened on 1 April 1939 and served as a training establishme ...

in Scotland after completing a battle course and further navigation training at RAF Filey in Yorkshire. At Kinloss, pilot Ralph Pearson asked Blair to fly with him, and they remained together until the end of the War. They were joined by two gunners, a

wireless operator A radio operator (also, formerly, wireless operator in British and Commonwealth English) is a person who is responsible for the operations of a radio system. The profession of radio operator has become largely obsolete with the automation of ra ...

, a

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is the member of an aircraft's flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air me ...

and a

bomb aimer A bombardier or bomb aimer is the crew member of a bomber aircraft responsible for the targeting of aerial bombs. "Bomb aimer" was the preferred term in the military forces of the Commonwealth, while "bombardier" (from the French word for "bom ...

, and completed initial training on an old Whitely. Blair navigated using direct vision of the ground, Met reports and Gee, a radio system that used beams transmitted from the ground to give him directional readings.

Operations

In December 1944 Blair was assigned to 102 (Ceylon) Squadron and navigated Halifax Bombers for

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 ...

. In a later interview he recalled his first operation on 21 December, when his aircraft attacked

Nippes Nippes ( French) or Nip (Haitian Creole) is one of the ten departments (the highest-level political subdivisions) of Haiti located in southern Haiti. It is the most recently created department, having been split from Grand'Anse in 2003. The ...

. He flew his last mission in April 1945. By the end of the War he had completed a full

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...

of 30 bombing operations plus three more operational flights, and spent a short while with

Pathfinder (RAF) The Pathfinders were target-marking squadrons in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. They located and marked targets with flares, which a main bomber force could aim at, increasing the accuracy of their bombing. The Pathfinders were norma ...

. He was one of more than 400 Black Caribbean air crew in the RAF during the War.

Later life

After the War, he joined No. 35 Squadron RAF, with whom he worked with Lancaster bombers, and stayed with them until October 1947. He subsequently became a navigation instructor at RAF Scampton. Blair made several failed attempts to locate Pearson, initially travelling to York immediately after the War and then travelling to Vancouver in 1959. Blair's final post was of Chief navigation Officer for

No. 216 Squadron RAF Number 216 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, since reforming on 1 April 2020 and is tasked with testing future drone swarm technology. It had previously operated Lockheed TriStar K1, KC1 and C ...

. He retired in 1963.

Awards and honours

In late 1945, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Death and legacy

Blair died in 2004. An account of his life is given in Mark Johnson's ''Caribbean Volunteers at War: The Forgotten Story of the RAF's 'Tuskegee Airmen (2014).

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, John Jellicoe 1919 births 2004 deaths Royal Air Force personnel of World War II British World War II pilots Royal Air Force airmen People from Saint Elizabeth Parish Jamaican aviators