In Memoriam

Sadly the following members have died since publication of the last newsletter. We extend our sincere condolences to their families and friends.

Wg Cdr P T Baker MBE

Noel Rousseau

David Stannard

John Turnbull

Noel Rousseau

John Turnbull
 
John Turnbull served on 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron on the Vulcan B2 in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
 
Born in 1926, the son of teachers, he won a place to read Mathematics at Keeble College, Oxford.  Unfortunately, Adolf Hitler intervened and, early in his course, John received call up papers and joined the Royal Air Force on the 20th of October 1944.
 
With his maths background it was inevitable that young John would be selected for navigator training. He completed his training in Canada but, by the time he earned his wings, the war was over. John remained in the Royal Air Force and went on to be an outstanding navigator on 22 different aircraft types including the Wellington, Mosquito, Halifax, Hastings, Canberra and Vulcan.
 
While on Hastings, John took part in the Berlin airlift.  This was dangerous work, as straying out of the dedicated air corridors could be, and was for some, fatal. It required exacting navigation. John achieved two things: he helped save the citizens of Berlin, and therefore the freedom of the west; and probably more important to him, he met a young WAAF flight plotter called Jean Stevens, who was to be the love of his life. They married in 1951 at Dishforth village church in North Yorkshire and spent 71 very happy years together.
 
During his tour on 44 Squadron John and his crew visited the then Rhodesia, where his sister and family lived. While on IX (B) Squadron, he played a key part in the success of the Vulcan team in the 1973 NEAF Bombing Competition against other UK V-Force crews and those of Strategic Air Command.  While training for this, his crew set off on a Night Limited Aids astro navigation trips. For navigators, this is called excitement; for pilots, frankly, it was rather boring.  Every half an hour for the best part of 4 hours the co-pilot went through the litany of countdown to astro “3-2-1 Shoot”. As we approached Cyprus, John announced that he had re-started his kit and our final astro error had been 3 miles – rather good.  Many years later, John confessed that he and Jim Herbert, his Nav Radar, both thought the other had carried the sextants out to the aircraft, only to discover when it came to start the astro that, of sextants, they had none.  John and Jim then flew the rest of the trip pretending to shoot the stars on my counting when, in fact, all that they were shooting was a line.
 
John’s final tour was in Air Traffic Control at RAF Manston.  He and Jean, and their 3 children (soon to be expanded with a host of grandchildren) settled in Devon where he started a new career in the Inland Revenue and spent a great deal of time cultivating his wonderful garden.
 
John Turnbull was an extremely self-effacing and generous man and an exceptionally talented navigator.  It was an honour to fly with him.