14 Facts About Michael Torrens-Spence

When war broke out, Michael Torrens-Spence was serving on Glorious which was sent through the Suez Canal to hunt German surface raiders.

Michael Torrens-Spence was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for this action.

Michael Torrens-Spence was involved when Illustrious was badly damaged; Illustrious was escorting a convoy to Malta when she was attacked by three squadrons of German Stuka dive bombers.

Michael Torrens-Spence's aircraft were disembarked in Malta, and Torrens-Spence flew to Eleusis, near Athens, Greece, with elements of 815 and 819 Squadrons for an active anti-shipping campaign which later earned him the Distinguished Service Order.

At the Battle of Cape Matapan, Michael Torrens-Spence was ordered to find and attack a large Italian naval force.

From March to October 1941, Michael Torrens-Spence commanded 815 Squadron in Albania, where he added to his tally.

From 1942, Michael Torrens-Spence was posted to the UK to become a leading Admiralty test pilot at RAF Boscombe Down where he remained for the next three years, and worked closely with fellow former HMS Glorious and 819 Naval Air Squadron pilot Lieutenant Roy Sydney Baker-Falkner in developing and test flying the Fairey Barracuda aircraft prior to its operational service in the Fleet Air Arm.

Michael Torrens-Spence was posted back to Illustrious for the closing stages of the war.

Michael Torrens-Spence remained in the Navy after the war, becoming chief inspector of the Empire Test Pilots' School.

Michael Torrens-Spence wrote the staff requirement for the Buccaneer strike aircraft and steered it through the Admiralty Board.

Michael Torrens-Spence was a justice of the peace, served as High Sheriff of Armagh in 1979 and was aide-de-camp to the Queen.

Michael Torrens-Spence was never overtly involved in politics, but remained throughout his life a committed Unionist, holding senior office in the County Armagh Unionist Association, yet saddened by what he saw as the government's appeasing of terrorism.

Michael Torrens-Spence married Rachel Torrens-Spence, with whom he had four children.

One of his sons, Brigadier Edward John Michael Torrens-Spence CBE, was British Embassy military attache to the United States.