Robert Saundby
Sir Robert Saundby | |
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Croix de Guerre (Belgium) |
Early life
Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby was born on 26 April 1896 at 83A Edmund Street in Birmingham.[1][2] He was the son of Professor Robert Saundby FRCP and Edith Mary Saundby (née Spencer).[2][3]
Educated at King Edward VI School, Saundby left in 1913 and joined the Traffic Department of the London and North Western Railway.[3]
First World War
Saundby began the
An attack of cerebrospinal meningitis in February 1915 saw Saundby out of action for 8 months. It was not until 11 October that he was passed fit and on 23 October he applied to the Royal Flying Corps.[2]
It was January 1916 when Saundby was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps. Saundby's flying career began at Thetford in Norfolk as part of No. 12 Reserve Squadron on 28 February 1916. He flew solo just over a month later on 31 March and gained further experience flying with the squadron at Dover. Saundby then attended the Central Flying School (CFS) at Upavon. He saw further service with No. 40 Squadron at Gosport.[2][3][5] Of his experiences in this period, Saundby wrote -[5]
I have never found it necessary to modify the opinion which I formed at the time that, which the exception of the C.F.S. and one or two individuals, the standard of flying training was on the whole extremely bad. The instructor felt no responsibility for his pupils' flying and invariably explained away their crashes by reporting that they were hopeless idiots, better dead, of whom nothing could reasonably be expected.
— Robert Saundby
Saundby became a qualified pilot and joined Britain's first single-seater fighter squadron,
On 17 November 1916 Saundby's brother,
Saundby transferred from No. 24 Squadron to No. 41 Squadron on 26 January 1917. On 4 March, while flying FE.8 Serial No. 6431, he shared a victory over an Albatros.[9] Following this win, he transferred to Home Defence in Britain. He had shot down 9 aircraft over the Western Front by this point.[2]
On 13 April 1917 Saundby was at
In the preface to Saundby's book Flying Colours (1919), Major General E. B. Ashmore wrote that Saundby was "one of a very gallant band of pilots who fought under the late Major Lanoe Hawker VC DSO during the Somme offensive of 1916."[2]
Interwar period
In 1919 Saundby received a permanent commission into the Royal Air Force (RAF). This period also saw him taking the sea plane course at Lee-on-Solent, studying at the RAF and Naval Cooperation School at Calshot and being awarded the Air Force Cross.[3]
Between 1919 and 1925, Robert Saundby moved slowly through the ranks of the newly formed RAF, while gaining experience of command. Between 1922 and 1925 he served as a Flight Commander in No. 45 Squadron, based at Almaza, Cairo.[2] Flying the Vickers Vernon transport aircraft. He flew as co-pilot for the then Squadron Leader Arthur Harris, when the latter developed a locally improvised bombing capability for the Vernon.[12]
April 1922 was Saundby's first flight to Baghdad. In February, March, November and December 1923 he participated in bombing operations.[2] This was a policy known as 'aerial policing'.[13] He moved on to become an instructor in Egypt with No. 4 Flying Training School at Abu Sueir, Egypt. However, this lasted for only two months when he was given command of the Aden Flight. This was due to a sudden illness affecting the sitting commander. Saudby initially disliked the posting but grew to appreciate the experience. It proved to be the only command of his career.[2]
Saundby's move towards the upper command ranks of the RAF was initiated when he joined No. 58 Squadron as a Flight Commander on 15 October 1926. With the squadron he flew the
In 1927–28 Saundby attended the RAF Staff College before being posted to the Wessex bombing area staff. By this period he had logged over 2000 flying hours, however his flying career was drawing to a close as he rose into more staff positions.[2]
At the rank of
Second World War
By 1940, Saundby had become Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO), HQ Bomber Command. He served under Air Marshal Richard Peirse, and continued in this position when Peirse was replaced with Arthur Harris in February 1942.[citation needed]
February 1943 saw Saundby appointed to the post of deputy air officer commanding-in-chief.[2] He was an advocate for the strategy of attacking German military industries and the morale of the German population by bombing German industrial areas and cities. He was a key deputy for Harris throughout the remainder of the war. On behalf of Harris he selected 94 German towns which were "fitted" for carpet bombing and gave codenames to each of them known as 'Fish code'; for example Nuremberg was codenamed Grayling and Berlin was Whitebait. It is thought that he chose this coding because he was a keen fly fisherman.[14] He retired on medical grounds from the RAF on 22 March 1946.[citation needed]
The medical grounds for Saundby's retirement were the result of injuries (osteoarthritic lumbar spine and an osteoarthritic hip)[2] sustained in a crash 30 years previously.[15]
Saundby was awarded the Order of Leopold II with Palme and Croix de Guerre for services in the liberation of Belgium.[citation needed]
Retirement
Saundby devoted much of his retirement to his role as Vice-Chairman,
Saundby was the chair of the council of
Saundby was also a keen lepidopterist and a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. In retirement at Oxleas House in Burghclere he made light-trap records in his garden and entomologized the woods of West Berkshire. His work in this field saw him record 44 species of butterfly and 501 larger moths.[15] His collection was described as "a model of good arrangement and documentation", and was presented to the Natural History Museum in London.[15]
Saundby had many hobbies, and wrote several books on differing subjects including his role in the RAF during the war (Air Bombardment, The Story of its Development, How the Bomber and the Missile Brought the Third Dimension to Warfare) and Steam Engines (Early British Steam 1825–1925: The First 100 Years).[citation needed]
Saundby died on 26 September 1971 at Edgecombe Nursing Home, Hamstead Marshall in Berkshire. His ashes were scattered by the River Avon at Netheravon.[2]
Family
On 10 January 1931, Saundby married Joyce Mary Rees-Webbe. They met when she came with her father, Major Marmaduke Oswald Norman Rees-Webbe, on a fly-fishing trip. Together they had a son and two daughters.[2]
Influence on literature
Kurt Vonnegut quotes his foreword to David Irving's The Destruction of Dresden in his novel Slaughterhouse-Five.
Popular culture
Saundby appears in the wartime propaganda file Target for Tonight. Saundby was portrayed in the 1989 television drama Bomber Harris by Bernard Kay.[16]
References
- ^ a b Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. p. 330.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/58056. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Air Marshal Sir Robert Saundby". The Times. No. 58283. 27 September 1971. p. 18.
- ^ a b Pusher Aces of World War 1. p. 39.
- ^ )
- ^ "24 Squadron". www.theaerodrome.com. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
- ^ "Deaths". The Times. No. 41646. 27 November 1917. p. 2.
- ^ "Casualty". cwgc.org. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ^ Pusher Aces of World War 1. p. 64.
- ^ Pusher Aces of World War 1. pp. 83–84.
- ^ "Herr Otto Mieth". The Times. No. 53528. 11 May 1956. p. 13.
- ISBN 0-423-00630-4p38
- ^ Pruszewicz, Marek (7 October 2014). "The 1920s British air bombing campaign in Iraq". BBC News. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
- ISBN 0-7509-1819-5.
- ^ OCLC 45903597.
- ^ Darlow, Michael (3 September 1989), Bomber Harris, John Thaw, Robert Hardy, Frederick Treves, retrieved 25 July 2018
Further reading
- Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. Christopher F. Shores, Norman L. R. Franks, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1990. ISBN 978-0-948817-19-9.
- Pusher Aces of World War 1 Jon Guttman, Harry Dempsey. Osprey Pub Co, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84603-417-6.