Roy Sydney Baker-Falkner (3 June 1916 – 18 July 1944) was a Canadian

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Fleet Air Arm

naval aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...

and wing leader 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 ...

, who attained the rank of

Lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

. He was a veteran of the evacuation of Dunkirk, one of the few naval

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

pilots, was test pilot for the Admiralty, starred in a Ealing Studio Royal Navy film, and credited with crippling the German battleship ''Tirpitz'' as strike leader of over 100 aircraft.

Early life

He was born in Nottingham to pioneer farmer Reginald Sydney Falkner of the

Canadian Expeditionary Force The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was the expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division ...

who was serving in the Canadian Army Medical Corps in England before he was invalided back to Canada in 1917 with his wife and newborn son. Falkner grew up on a farm in

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

and later in Broadview, Saskatchewan where his father was secretary to the Canadian Great War Veterans Association. In the 1920s, with his father's new posting to Victoria in British Columbia, Roy attended Mackenzie Elementary School in Victoria, initially training in music, awarded his Certificate of Music in November 1929.

Early career

Falkner subsequently joined the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

at the nearby Esquimalt naval base as a cadet in fall 1929, He was awarded a Commonwealth military scholarship as Dominion of Canada overseas cadet at the

Royal Naval College, Dartmouth Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

in 1930, changing his surname to Baker-Falkner. Baker-Falkner subsequently served as midshipman aboard the flagship, the cruiser HMS ''Kent'', on the

China Station The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 18 ...

at Hong Kong, between 1934 and 1936. In 1937 on return to the UK, he specialised as a TSR/TBR torpedo and

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

pilot and was commissioned with joint Royal Navy and Royal Air Force ranks of Sub lieutenant RN/Flight Lieutenant RAF with seniority from 4 January 1937. He subsequently served with 812 Naval Air Squadron at

RAF Hal Far The RAF Hal Far airfield was the first permanent airfield to be built on Malta. It was opened on 1 April 1929 as HMS ''Falcon'', a Royal Navy stone frigate, and was used by Fleet Air Arm crews. It was transferred to the Maltese Government and r ...

in Malta in 1938. At that time Hal Far was a naval air station under the control of the RAF. He reached seniority of lieutenant on 6 January 1939.

Second World War

After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Baker-Falkner remained in Malta with his squadron, serving onboard the fleet aircraft carrier HMS ''Glorious''. With the threat of invasion of Malta by Italy his ship was subsequently stationed at RNAS Dekheila in Alexandria, Egypt. When ''Glorious'' was called back to the Home Fleet in 1940, Baker-Falkner was posted to

819 Naval Air Squadron 819 Naval Air Squadron (819 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. History Along with No. 815 Squadron, it performed the successful night attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto on 11 November 1940. The attack was perfo ...

preparing for the attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto, however with the fall of Norway and the sinking of his ship HMS ''Glorious'', Baker-Falkner returned to 812 Squadron which was attached to

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

RAF North Coates RAF North Coates was a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, six miles south-east of Cleethorpes, and close to the mouth of the Humber estuary. It was an active air station during World War I, and then again from the mid-1920s. Betw ...

, Lincolnshire. He carried out his first air operations over occupied Europe aerial mining coastal waters and harbours of France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. He saw action over Rotterdam airport and the invading German army, and attacked German panzer tanks at

Gravelines Gravelines (, ; ; ) is a commune in the Nord department in Northern France. It lies at the mouth of the river Aa southwest of Dunkirk. It was formed in the 12th century around the mouth of a canal built to connect Saint-Omer with the sea. As ...

during the defence of Dunkirk. He saw further operations over France attacking German convoys during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

in 1940. During the confusion of summer 1940 he and other Fleet Air Arm pilots were seconded and rushed to reinforce

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 ...

and Baker-Falkner took part in the

. Baker-Falkner took part in Operation Dunlop in April 1941 as part of the

Malta Convoys The Malta convoys were Allied supply convoys of the Second World War. The convoys took place during the Siege of Malta in the Mediterranean Theatre. Malta was a base from which British sea and air forces could attack ships carrying supplies f ...

to deliver urgently needed Fighter planes to Malta, at the height of the siege of Malta. He provided aerial cover to

HMS Argus Nine ships of the Royal Navy and one of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary have been named ''Argus'', after Argus, the hundred-eyed giant of mythology: * was a 10-gun sloop, originally a French privateer, captured in 1799 and broken up in 1811. * HMS ' ...

and HMS Ark Royal.

Test pilot

Wing Leader

Attacks on ''Tirpitz'' and missing (believed killed) in action

Baker-Falkner led the subsequent Fleet Air Arm attack on the largely repaired ''Tirpitz'' on 17 July 1944 in Operation Mascot.

Commemoration

... the Canadian Book of Remembrance and the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, as well as in his home towns on British Columbia and in Teignmouth, Devon, as well as the London Embankment Battle of Britain War Memorial, the Canadian Roll of Honour in the Fleet Air Arm Archive 1939-1945, and the Fleet Air Arm Museum Roll of Honour

Notes

References

External links

Canadian Virtual War Memorial entry for Lt Cdr Baker-Falkner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker-Falkner, Roy Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Canadian aviators Shot-down aviators 1916 births 1944 deaths The Few Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Canadian recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Navy personnel killed in World War II