Air Marshal Sir Richard Peck

xx xxx xxxx:         Cadet, Brasenose College, Oxford Officers Training Corps

22 Dec 1914:         Officer, 11th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment.

xx xxx xxxx:            Observer, No 7 Sqn, RFC?

13 Nov 1915:         Appointed Flying Officer, RFC.

xx xxx 1916:          Pilot, No 12 Sqn RFC

 9 Feb 1916:           Embarked for France (with No 12 Sqn)

29 Jun 1916:           Flight Commander, No 13 Sqn RFC.

24 Jul 1916:            Flight Commander, No 12 Sqn RFC

15-21 Oct 1916:     Admitted to No 37 Casualty Clearing Station

 6 Nov 1916:           Returned to Home Establishment

xx xxx 1916:           

 6 Jul 1917:              Attached, No 2 ASD

14 Jul 1917:            Returned to Home Establishment

 1 Aug 1917:           Officer Commanding, No ? Sqn RFC.

xx Mar 1918;          Officer Commanding, No 117 Sqn RFC/RAF

 7 Dec 1918:           ?, School of Wireless Telegraphy

30 July 1919:          CFI, Netheravon Flying Training School.

 1 Aug 1919:           Awarded Permanent Commission as a Major

23 Dec 1919:          CFI, No 1 FTS.

29 May 1922:         Air Staff Duties, HQ Iraq Command

10 May 1924:         Officer Commanding, No 84 Sqn. (DH9A – Shaibah)

 4 Dec 1925:           Supernumerary, RAF Depot.

21 Jan 1926:           Attended Army Staff College, Camberley.

17 Nov 1927:          Air Staff, Deputy Directorate of Plans.

15 Dec 1930:           Supernumerary, HQ Coastal Area (attached from DD of Plans).

31 Aug 1931:           Air Staff, Directorate of Operations and Intelligence.

11 Jan 1932:            Officer Commanding, No 3 FTS.

17 Jan 1933:            Attended Imperial Defence College.

13 Jan 1934:            Deputy Director of Operations and Intelligence

28 Jan 1936:            SASO, HQ RAF India.  

xx xxx xxxx - xx xxx xxxx:    Acting AOC, RAFIndia.

 1 Mar 1939:            Director of Operations.

xx Sep 1939:            Director-General of Operations.

 7 Feb 1940:            Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (General).

Born in West Derby, Liverpool, he was educated to St Paul's School and Brasenose College.  He gained RAeC Certificate No 2480 on 15 November 1915.  In 1935 he chaired the 'Committee on the Defence of RAF Stations against Air Attack', which recommended that the RAF required few greater AA resources than Air Staff policy then proposed.

As Director of Operations, he quickly appreciated the advantages of the De Havilland Mosquito and was able to have get the first examples of this remarkable aircraft delivered as Photo-Reconnaissance models.  During most of WW2, he was the anonymous 'Air Ministry Spokesman'.

From 1946-1949 he was a Governor of the BBC, in 1947 he was Vice-Chairman of the National Savings Committee and became president of RAFA in 1949.  He died of a heart attack, whilst on holiday in Switzerland.