Air Marshal Sir William Edward Coles &

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

, AFC (26 July 1913 – 7 June 1979) was a

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 who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

Technical Training Command The United States Army Air Forces during World War II had major subordinate Commands below the Air Staff level. These Commands were organized along functional missions. One such Command was the Flying Training Command (FTC). It began as Air Corp ...

from 1966 to 1968. Coles was also a British

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

der who competed in the late 1940s as part of an RAF team.

RAF career

Coles joined the Royal Air Force in 1938.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Marshal Sir William Coles
/ref> 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as Officer Commanding No. 117 Squadron and as Officer Commanding No. 233 Squadron. After the war he became a Staff Officer at 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 ...

before joining the Central Flying School. He was appointed Station Commander at

RAF Middleton St. George RAF Middleton St George was a Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Bomber Command station during World War II. It was located in County Durham, five miles east of Darlington, England. The station's motto was ''Shield an ...

in 1950, Chief Flying Instructor at the Central Flying School in 1951 and Air Adviser to the High Commissioner to Australia in 1953. He went on to be Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters No. 3 (Bomber) Group in 1957, Air Officer Commanding No. 23 (Training) Group in 1960 and Director-General of RAF Personal Services in 1963. His last appointment was as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

in 1966 before retiring in 1968. He was the subject of ''

This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to: Television * ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards * ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...

'' in 1974 when he was surprised by

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...

. In retirement he became President of the

Not Forgotten Association The Not Forgotten Association (known as 'The Not Forgotten') is a British Armed Forces registered charity for serving and ex-servicemen and women that operates throughout the United Kingdom. The Not Forgotten combats isolation and loneliness in the ...

and Controller of the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Sport

At the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspiele; french: Ves Jeux olympiques d'hiver; it, V Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, V Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz ...

St. Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...

, he finished fifth in the two-man and seventh in the four-man events.1948 bobsleigh two-man resultsBritish Olympic Association profile
/ref>

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, William 1913 births 1979 deaths Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Royal Air Force air marshals Royal Air Force personnel of World War II