1. Basil Embry was Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command from 1949 to 1953.
28 Facts About Basil Embry
1. 2.
Basil Embry was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1902 and as a young boy at Bromsgrove School he developed an avid interest in aviation.
3.
In 1934 Basil Embry was posted to India to serve in the Indian Wing on the North West Frontier.
4.
Basil Embry was promoted squadron leader in 1935, and served in the Second Mohmand Campaign of 1935.
5.
Basil Embry was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for operations in Waziristan in 1938.
6.
Basil Embry was further promoted in 1938 to wing commander.
7.
The energetic Basil Embry led his squadron from the front, and he saw extensive action during the campaigns in Norway and France, often in the face of heavy losses and overwhelming opposition.
8.
On 25 September 1939 Basil Embry led a 3-plane formation on a reconnaissance sortie into Germany.
9.
The German invasion of France and the Low Countries began on 10 May 1940 and Basil Embry's Squadron flew intensively against the German advance, each crew flying two or three sorties daily across the English Channel to France.
10.
Basil Embry was to fly one more sortie before relinquishing command.
11.
Basil Embry successfully evaded recapture for two months in occupied France before eventually getting back to England via Spain and Gibraltar.
12.
The wing disbanded in December 1940 and Basil Embry became AOC RAF Wittering, returning to the rank of group captain in March 1941.
13.
In July 1941 Basil Embry was given the ceremonial title of an Air Aide-de-Camp to the King, and was Mentioned in Despatches in September.
14.
Basil Embry pushed fervently for 2 Group's re-equipment with the high-speed De Havilland Mosquito FB VI, which became the highly potent workhorse of the group by 1944.
15.
Basil Embry's Mosquitoes undertook further bombing operations such as the attack on Amiens jail in February 1944.
16.
On 31 October 1944, Basil Embry took part in a successful low-level attack by Mosquitoes of Nos.
17.
In March 1945, Basil Embry's command carried out Operation Carthage on the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, and in April those in Odense.
18.
Shortly after the end of the war Basil Embry was knighted with his appointment as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
19.
Basil Embry was later to receive further knighthoods with higher precedence: in 1952 he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and in 1956 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.
20.
Basil Embry was Commander-in-Chief Fighter Command from 1949 to 1953.
21.
Basil Embry was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Allied Air Forces Central Europe.
22.
In 1956 Basil Embry briefly relocated to New Zealand where he wrote his autobiography, titled Mission Completed.
23.
Basil Embry acquired land at Cape Riche, east of Albany, and moved there in the late 1960s.
24.
Basil Embry became active in the politics of agriculture through the Farmers' Union of Western Australia.
25.
Basil Embry was elected General President in 1971 and held office for two years.
26.
Basil Embry was the president of the Royal Air Forces Escaping Society and worked himself at a punishing pace until he became ill in 1975.
27.
Basil Embry died in Boyup Brook, Western Australia, in 1977, and was survived by his wife, daughter, and three of his four sons.
28.
Basil Embry married Australian-born Lady Margaret Hope Elliot on 1 August 1928, and went on to have five children with her, including Western Australian politician Paddy Basil Embry.