Sir Peter Horsley | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1921-03-25)25 March 1921 |
| Died | 20 December 2001(2001-12-20) (aged 80) Salisbury, Wiltshire |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | 1941–75 |
| Rank | Air Marshal |
| Commands | No. 1 Group (1971–73) RAF Akrotiri (1962–66) RAF Wattisham (1959–62) No. 9 Squadron RAF (1957–58) |
| Battles / wars | Second World War |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order Air Force Cross Mentioned in Despatches Croix de guerre (France) |
Air MarshalSir Beresford Peter Torrington Horsley,KCB, CBE, LVO, AFC (25 March 1921 – 20 December 2001) was a seniorRoyal Air Force commander.
Horsley was the youngest of seven children of a West Hartlepool merchant who committed suicide in 1923 as a result of business worries.[1] He was educated at theDragon School, Oxford, andWellington College.
In 1939, he became a deck boy on the TSSCyclops, aBlue Funnel Line steamer sailing toMalaya. He transferred to the homeward-bound TSSMenelaus when theSecond World War was declared, but then deserted ship. As a member of theMerchant Navy Horsley would not have been able to join the RAF, which was his ambition.
Horsley served briefly in theHome Guard before joining the RAF, initially as an air gunner, as this was the only vacancy then available. However, he managed to get a transfer to pilot training, and was soon himself an instructor atRAF Cranwell.
He was transferred to theFlying Training School at Penfold,Alberta in 1942, and then to theMosquito Conversion Unit at Greenwood,Nova Scotia, 1943–1944. He then joined 21 Squadron[2] of 140 Wing,RAF Hunsdon, flyingMosquitoes on night fighter intruder missions overNaziGermany. AfterD-Day he was shot down over theEnglish Channel nearCherbourg and was picked up by an Air-Sea Rescue launch after three days.[3] An account of the incident, read by Horsley himself, is kept in the Imperial War Museum archives. His navigator 'Bambi' was killed, and Horsley spent some time afterwards in hospital, and then the RAF rehabilitation centre atLoughborough.
Horsley then was attached to the communications squadron of the 2nd Tactical Air Force inFrance, and was personal pilot to Major-GeneralMiles Graham during theNormandy invasion. He returned to theUnited Kingdom in 1947 and joined the staff of theCentral Flying School, 23 TrainingGroup. He received a permanent commission and was appointedadjutant to the OxfordUniversity Air Squadron in 1948.[2]
He joined theRoyal Household in July 1949, as a Squadron Leader, as ExtraEquerry toHer Royal Highness thePrincess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh andHis Royal Highness theDuke of Edinburgh.[2] He was also concurrently Officer Commanding 29 Squadron,RAF Tangmere,Sussex, flyingMeteor IX fighters. In 1952 he became aWing Commander and Temporary Equerry to Her MajestyThe Queen,[2] and in 1953 he became full-time as Equerry to the Duke of Edinburgh,[2] relinquishing the second appointment in command of his squadron. He remained the Duke's Equerry until 1956.
In the late 1950s he became senior instructor at the RAF Flying College,Manby inLincolnshire and was then made Station Commander atRAF Wattisham inSuffolk in 1959.[2] He went on to beGroup Captain Near East Air Force (NEAF) operations based inCyprus in 1962.[2]
Horsley attended theImperial Defence College, and was then appointed Deputy Commandant at theJoint Warfare Establishment atOld Sarum inWiltshire in 1966.[2]
He became anAir Vice Marshal and was madeAssistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) in 1968, then Commanding OfficerNo. 1 Group in 1971.[2] His last appointment in the RAF was as DeputyCommander-in-ChiefRAF Strike Command in 1973 before he retired in 1975.[2]
Horsley had a number of business interests after retirement from the RAF: Robson Lowe (stamp auction house), chair; Stanley Gibbons, managing director. RCR International, director, beginning 1984; Horsley Holdings, director, beginning 1985; Yorkshire Sports, president, beginning 1986; National Printing Ink Co., chair, beginning 1987; Osprey Aviation Ltd., chair, beginning 1991. He wrote an autobiography,Sounds From Another Room (subtitled Memories of Planes, Princes and the Paranormal), published Leo Cooper in 1997, which described his interest inUFOs, which began when Equerry to His Royal Highness theDuke of Edinburgh, and a close encounter with an "alien" inLondon in 1954[citation needed]. He died in 2001.[4]
Horsley received the FrenchCroix de Guerre in 1944, and theAir Force Cross in 1945. He was made aLieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in 1956, and aCommander of the Order of the British Empire in 1964. In 1974 he was knighted and made aKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath.[2]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Air Officer CommandingNo. 1 Group 1971–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Deputy Commander-in-ChiefStrike Command 1973–1975 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
