Admiral Sir Walter Thomas Couchman, (19 March 1905 – 2 May 1981) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

officer who served as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff from February to November 1960, when he retired from service.

Early life

The son of Malcolm Edward Couchman, a civil servant in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, and Emily Elizabeth Ranking, Walter Couchman was born in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

in 1905. Educated at the

Royal Naval College, Osborne The Royal Naval College, Osborne, was a training college for Royal Navy officer cadets on the Osborne House estate, Isle of Wight, established in 1903 and closed in 1921. Boys were admitted at about the age of thirteen to follow a course las ...

, Couchman joined the

and specialized in naval aviation,Obituary:Admiral Sir Walter Couchman
/ref> after training at the

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, ...

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

Naval career

Couchman attended staff college at the

Royal Naval College, Greenwich The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, was a Royal Navy training establishment between 1873 and 1998, providing courses for naval officers. It was the home of the Royal Navy's staff college, which provided advanced training for officers. The equiv ...

in 1928 and qualified as a naval pilot in 1935. 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as Commander in the Air Materials Division and then as Commanding Officer of the destroyer . In 1941 he was appointed Staff Officer (Plans) for the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...

. Later in the War he became Naval Assistant (Underwater Weapons) and then Chief Staff Officer to the Flag Officer Air (Home). After the War he became Captain of the aircraft carrier and then, from 1947, Director of Naval Air Organisation and Training at the Admiralty.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He went on to be Flag Officer, Flying Training in 1951, in which role he led the Fleet Air Arm

flypast A flypast is a ceremonial or honorific flight by an aircraft or group of aircraft. The term flypast is used in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In the United States, the terms flyover and flyby are used. Flypasts are often tied in ...

of 327 aircraft at the Coronation review of the fleet, flying a

de Havilland Sea Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and the first to be powered by a ...

. He was then appointed Flag Officer, Heavy Squadron in 1953, Flag Officer, Aircraft Carriers in 1954 and Deputy Controller of Supplies (Air) at the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for air ...

in 1955. He became

Flag Officer, Air (Home) A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''ae ...

in 1957 and Vice Chief of the Naval Staff in 1960. He retired in November 1960.

Family

He married Phyllida Connellan; they had a son and two daughters. Following the dissolution of his first marriage, he married Hughe Thelma Hunter Blair née Reid in 1965. After the death of Hughe in 1972, he married Daphne Harvey, the widow of a naval captain.

References

External links

* - photograph of Couchman on promotion to admiral in 1959, seated in the cockpit of a

Hawker Sea Hawk The Hawker Sea Hawk is a British single-seat jet day fighter formerly of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its design origin ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Couchman, Walter 1905 births 1981 deaths People from Chennai Royal Navy admirals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Officers of the Order of the British Empire Royal Navy officers of World War II Lords of the Admiralty People educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne Military personnel of British India British people in colonial India