Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

Henry Neville Gynes Ramsbottom-Isherwood (13 July 1905 – 24 April 1950) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

born

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 ...

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...

and commanding officer 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 the

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period. He was one of only four wartime

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

recipients of the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

, after he had led an RAF fighter

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

to help defend northern

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and introduce British aircraft to

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

personnel. He was killed in a flying accident in 1950.

Early career

Born on 13 July 1905 at

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

near

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in New Zealand, he was the son of Henry Lionel Ramsbottom-Isherwood and Lilian Catherine ''née'' Kelly. He was educated at St Patrick's College and St Joseph's College, Geelong, Sydney.E. J. B. "Group Captain Ramsbottom Isherwood." Times ondon, England27 Apr. 1950: 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. Commissioned into the New Zealand Rifles as a

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in 1924, Isherwood emigrated to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

to train as a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Qualifying 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 ...

in July 1930, he saw service in

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and Britain before joining the staff of the

Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its work ...

RAF Martlesham Heath Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of ...

as a test pilot in the Armament Testing Section.

Second World War

In the 1940 King's Birthday Honours, Isherwood was awarded the Air Force Cross. In January 1941 Isherwood was posted to Fighter Command and was given command of a sector in No. 9 Group and later served as a controller at the group headquarters. In August 1941 Isherwood was selected to command No. 151 Wing, which was being formed for a mission codenamed

Operation Benedict Operation Benedict (29 July – 6 December 1941) was the establishment of Force Benedict with units of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS, ) in north Russia, during the Second World War. The force comprised 151 Wing Royal Air Force (RAF), with two squadr ...

, which was planned in the aftermath of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, the German invasion of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The aim of Operation Benedict was to take two squadrons of

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

Mk IID fighters to defend the naval port of

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...

in northern Russia and to train the Soviet Air Force to operate the aircraft, which would be the first of more than two thousand to be supplied. Arriving on the first

Arctic convoy The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

at the beginning of September 1941, the wing established itself at an airfield at Vaenga (renamed

Severomorsk Severomorsk (russian: Северомо́рск), known as Vayenga () until April 18, 1951, is a closed town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. Severomorsk is the main administrative base of the Russian Northern Fleet. The town is located on the coast ...

in 1951). Besides training the Soviet pilots and ground crews, the wing claimed 15 enemy aircraft destroyed plus four "probables" and seven damaged, for the loss of one Hurricane in combat. None of the Soviet bombers that they escorted were lost. At the end of October, when the wing had handed their last aircraft to the Soviets, they were ordered by the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

in London to travel south by rail through the Soviet Union for further service in the Middle East theatre. Isherwood compiled a lengthy signal stating that the journey was likely to take three months, that no rations or winter clothing were available and that there was a considerable danger of being overrun by the advancing Germans. The order was rescinded and the wing was evacuated by sea. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service during the operation as well as the Order of Lenin. Returning to Britain, Isherwood took command of a series of air bases. He was intended to command No. 153 Wing, a much larger fighter force which was due to be sent to Russia in late 1942 but the plan, Operation Jupiter, was abandoned, perhaps because of the heavy losses to the Arctic convoys. In 1944, he took command of No. 342 Wing in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Post war

Returning from southeast Asia in 1947, Isherwood became Commanding Officer of

RAF West Malling Royal Air Force West Malling or RAF West Malling is a former Royal Air Force station located south of West Malling, Kent and west of Maidstone, Kent, England. Originally used as a landing area during the First World War,Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

IV jet fighter for a test flight but ran into a severe snow storm and crashed near

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

and was killed. A military funeral was held on 29 April 1950 at St Felix church in Felixstowe. In 2009, Isherwood's medals were put up for auction at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

by his only daughter. They were bought by an anonymous Russian bidder for £46,000. The sale aroused considerable interest in New Zealand where his nephew conducted an unsuccessful campaign to acquire the medals. A television documentary about Isherwood called ''Operation Hurricane'' was made by Prime TV in New Zealand in 2012.

Family life

Isherwood married Betty Ailsa Taylor in 1938 at Deben in Suffolk.

References

External links

Portrait of Wing Commander Gynes Ramsbottom-Isherwood
by

Colin Colahan Colin Cuthbert Orr Colahan (12 February 1897, Woodend, Victoria – 6 June 1987, Ventimiglia) was an Australian painter and sculptor. Educated at Xavier College. Second youngest of the six children of Surgeon-Major-General John Joseph Aloys ...

at the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

.
''Soviet Honours British Airmen''

British Pathé British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

newsreel showing medals being presented at the Soviet Embassy in London, 1942.
Morton & Eden Ltd Sale Catalogue of 10 June 2009
Isherwood's medals are shown on page 66. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsbottom-Isherwood, Neville 1905 births 1950 deaths New Zealand recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) New Zealand test pilots New Zealand World War II pilots People from Petone Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force officers