Thomas Prickett
Sir Thomas Prickett | |
---|---|
Birth name | Thomas Öther Prickett |
Born | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath | 31 July 1913
Second World War and a senior commander in the 1950s and 1960s. He was chief of staff to the air commander, Air Marshal Denis Barnett, for Operation Musketeer (the Anglo-French-Israeli plan for the invasion of Egypt to capture the Suez Canal during the Suez Crisis
).
RAF career
Educated at
Second World War initially as a pilot with No. 148 Squadron flying Wellington bombers and latterly as a flight commander with No. 103 Squadron flying Lancaster bombers.[1] He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order following a very successful bombing raid on the Peenemünde Army Research Center.[2][3]
After the war he was made Station Commander at
RAF Jever in Germany in 1954.[1] With the Suez Crisis unfolding in autumn 1956, he was appointed Chief of Staff for Operation Musketeer.[1] The planning for the operation was undertaken in great secrecy over a three-month period in a basement office at the Air Ministry.[2]
Returning to the UK he became Director of Air Staff Briefing at the
Air Member for Supply and Organisation in 1968 before he retired in 1970.[1]
In retirement he assisted the Duke of Richmond to redevelop the Goodwood estate.[2]
Family
In 1942 he married Betty, an American woman; they had a son and a daughter.[2] Following the death of his first wife, he married Shirley Westerman in 1985;[2] she died in 2023.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Chief Marshal Sir Thomas Prickett
- ^ a b c d e "Air Chief Marshal Sir Thomas Prickett". The Telegraph. 26 January 2010.
- ^ "No. 36183". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 September 1943. p. 4245.
- ^ "No. 43667". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 June 1965. p. 5473.
- ^ "Prickett". Register. The Times. No. 74131. London. 24 June 2023. col 3, p. 78.