Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation

Air Marshal Sir John Babington/Tremayne

J T Babington - 1913 Sir John Babington/Tremayne John Tremayne b: 20 Jul 1891 r: 18 Feb 1944 d: 20 Mar 1979

KCB - 11 Jun 1942 (CB - 2 Jan 1939), CBE - 4 Jun 1934, DSO – 1 Jan 1915, LoH, C - 19 May 1916, JP (Cornwall) – 1945, DL (Cornwall) - 1945, High Shf (Cornwall) - 16 Mar 1954.

For a list of foreign decoration abbreviations, click here

3rd Prize, 'R M Groves' Competition – 1922, Special Prize, 'R M Groves' Competition - 1922

(RN): - Mid’n: 15 May 1908, Sub-Lt: 15 Oct 1911, Lt: 15 Oct 1913, Flt Lt: 15 Oct 1913, Flt Cdr: 1 Jul 1914, Sqn Cdr: 27 May 1915, Act Wg Cdr: 23 Jan 1918.

(RAF): - (T) Lt Col [Maj]: 1 Apr 1918 - 1 May 1919, Maj [graded as Lt Col for pay]: 1 May 1919Sqn Ldr: 1 Aug 1919 [1 Apr 1918], Wg Cdr: 30 Jun 1922, Gp Capt: 1 Jan 1930, A/Cdre: 1 Jan 1934, AVM: 1 Jul 1937, Act AM: 7 Jul 1941, (T) AM: 4 May 1942, AM: Retained.

Photo (Far left) - taken from his RAeC Certificate

Photo (left) - Sir John Tremayne

by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1941
NPG x2893

15 Sep 1903: Attended RN College, Osborne.

xx xxx xxxx: Attended Britannia Training Ship, Dartmouth.

15 May 1908: Midshipman, Royal Navy.

14 May 1910: Midshipman, HMS Inflexible.

15 Oct 1911: Officer, Royal Navy.

28 Nov 1911: Officer, HMS St Vincent

1 Feb 1912: Officer, HMS Agamemnon

13 Jan 1913: Attended Naval Flying School, Eastchurch.

27 Mar 1913: Flying Officer, RFC (Naval Wing), Isle of Grain.

15 Jan 1914: Assistant Instructor in Flying, Central Flying School

6 May 1914: Flight Commander (2 i/c), Isle of Grain Naval Air Station

xx Oct - xx Nov 1914: Attached - RNAS Dunkirk

xx Apr - xx Jun 1915: Attached - RNAS Dunkirk

20 Jul 1915: Staff, RNAS Felixstowe

14 Aug 1915: Officer Commanding, RNAS Hendon.

13 Sep 1915: Staff, Air Department, K Section, Admiralty

1 Jul 1916: Squadron Commander, HP Squadron, Manston

21 Dec 1916: Squadron Commander, No 3 Wing RNAS (Handley Page 0/100 – France)

9 May 1917: Officer Commanding, HP Squadron, Manston Naval Air Station.

27 May 1917: Attached to No 3 Wing, Dover and Dunkirk awaiting disposal

20 Dec 1917: Temporary duty with Air Board, Hotel Cecil

23 Jan 1918: Officer Commanding, No 1 School of Navigation & Bomb Dropping, RNAS Stonehenge

1 Apr 1918: Officer Commanding, No 1 School of Navigation & Bomb Dropping, RAF Stonehenge

22 Nov 1918: Officer Commanding, No 27 Sqn

1 - 18 May 1919: Graded for pay and allowances as Lt Col (A & S)

11 Jun 1919: Staff Officer - 2nd Class (Technical), Aeronautical Commission of Control (Germany)

1 Aug 1919: Awarded Permanent Commission as a Major

22 Jan 1920: Removed from the Navy Lists on being awarded Permanent Commission in RAF

12 Nov 1920: Staff Officer - 2nd Class (Technical), Allied Aeronautical Commission of Control, Paris

27 Jul 1921: Staff Officer - 2nd Class (Technical), HQ No 3 Allied Aeronautical Commission of Control, Berlin

1 Aug 1921: Supernumerary, RAF Depot (joined 25 Aug 1921)

29 Aug 1921: Technical (Engineer) Duties, No 6 FTS.

29 Aug - 1 Oct 1921: Attached, Central Flying School for temporary duties.

3 Apr 1922: Staff, Trade Test Section, RAF Depot.

1 Aug 1922 Air Staff, HQ No 7 Group.

14 Jan 1924: Air Staff, HQ No 3 Group

5 May 1924: Attended No 3 Course, RAF Staff College.

6 Apr 1925: Technical Staff, HQ No 7 Group.

28 Nov 1925: Personnel Staff, HQ Iraq Command.

9 - 26 Mar 1927: Placed on half pay list, Scale B. (to settle urgent private affairs)

27 Mar 1927: Officer Commanding, RAF Base Gosport.

28 Sep 1928: Supernumerary, SHQ RAF Hinaidi (pending assuming command)

8 Jan 1929: Station Commandant, HQ Iraq Command.

6 Aug 1929: Supernumerary, RAF Depot.

6 Aug 1929: Temporary duty with Department of CAS, pending posting.

31 Aug 1929: Air Staff, Directorate of Operations and Intelligence.

11 Nov 1929: Air Representative to the League of Nations.

27 Dec 1934: Supernumerary, RAF Halton/Commandant, No 1 SoTT (Apprentices)

1 Jan 1935: AOC, RAF Halton/Commandant, No 1 SoTT (Apprentices)

10 Jul 1936: AOC, No 24 Group.

12 Aug 1938: Supernumerary, RAF Far East.

10 |Sep 1938: AOC, RAF Far East.

26 Apr 1941: Supernumerary (pending posting to Home Establishment), No 1 RAF Depot

30 Jun 1941: Supernumerary, Technical Training Command.

7 Jul 1941: AOC in C, Technical Training Command.

1 Jun 1943: Appointed to Special Duties List

26 Sep 1943: Supernumerary (pending posting), RAF Uxbridge

xx xxx 1943: Head of RAF Mission to Moscow.

2 - 8 Oct 1943: Attached to Air Ministry

9 - 22 Oct 1943: Disembarkation Leave

20 Jan 1944: Supernumerary, Personnel Holding Unit, Morecombe (pending retirememt).

Elder brother of Philip Babington, he was an early experimenter in the use of air to ground W/T and began flying in 1912, transferring to the Naval Wing of the RFC the following year, after gaining RAeC Certificate No 408 on 21 January 1913. He took part in the Friedrichshafen raid of 21 Nov 1914 - See Archives. In 1915 he carried out the first flight of the Handley Page 0/100. He changed his name to Tremayne, his mother's maiden name, in 1945 to avoid confusion with his younger brother.

Citation for the award of the Distinguished Service Order

"BABINGTON, John Tremayne, Flight Commander - No.3 Wing, RNAS.

The pilots deserve all praise for their admirable navigation, and the machines must not be forgotten. There have since been many longer and greater raids, but this flight of 250 miles, into gun-fire, across enemy country, in the frail little Avro with its humble horse-power, can compare as an achievement with the best of them, and some part of the credit must be spared for those who planned it, and for those who tended and prepared the machines."

(Source - Flight, 15 January 1915, noted he was one of those who "took part in the air raid on the Zeppelin works at Friedrichshafen")

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