RAF Centenary

Richard Graham Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kerr (Stirling) (Con)]

It is an immense and humbling privilege to follow the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs Moon), and so many other hon. Members who have made such knowledgeable and insightful speeches. I possess neither the insight nor the first-hand experience to measure up in any way to those speeches, so I stand sincerely and humbly as the Member of Parliament for Stirling simply to pay tribute to the Royal Air Force on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. The RAF was formed, as has been mentioned, as a result of the amalgamation of a number of entities, including the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. They came together to create the world’s first independent, stand-alone air force.

I have no personal or family connection with the RAF, but I honour all those who do. My emotions towards the RAF were first stirred—I feel confident to talk about this now, having heard the Secretary of State say how much he is looking forward to seeing the film “Hurricane”—by the boyhood experience of going with some friends to the Regal cinema on East High Street in Forfar—it is no longer there—to watch the 1969 epic “Battle of Britain”. That film and the heroics therein displayed made a great impact on me: feelings of appreciation for the sacrifice of those who serve our country in uniform were kindled, and feelings of deep patriotism were stirred.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way, and everything he said about the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs Moon) is absolutely true. Does he share my appreciation of the women who worked in the Gloster Aircraft Company during the second world war? They often travelled for many hours to get to work, from places such as the Forest of Dean. They manufactured all the Typhoons made in this country and most of the Hurricanes, but I feel that their contribution to the RAF is sometimes overlooked.

[Stephen Kerr]

I add my sentiments to those expressed by my hon. Friend about all those who contributed to the war effort, men and women, because the heroics of the few will never be forgotten; they saved our country and our freedom in the summer of 1940 and thereafter. Although there are few left of the few, our indebtedness to the air crews and ground crews of the wartime RAF is immense and in no way diminished by the passage of time.

I wish to pause at this point to express my appreciation of the modern-day RAF and particularly of those responsible for the quick reaction alert Typhoon aircraft stationed at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, who stand ready to defend our airspace 24 hours a day, every day of the year. They have been called upon to do so with increasing regularity in recent years, as the Russians become more audacious in their incursions.

It is important not to let such an important anniversary go by without taking the time to reflect on it. The RAF has served the people of these islands with great distinction. It is right that we, as a United Kingdom, should be proud of them. That brings me to two of the great pioneers in the field of aviation, who lived, worked and did great things in Stirling: Captain Frank Barnwell and his brother Harold Barnwell, who were the British equivalent of the Wright brothers. They established the Grampian Engineering and Motor Company works in Causewayhead in Stirling in 1907, at the foot of the Wallace monument, where they achieved the first powered flight in Scotland. It was very similar to the experience described by my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Aldershot (Leo Docherty). The brothers were in fact Londoners who became great Scottish pioneers—a fitting symbol of the great Union between Scotland and England.

Harold tragically lost his life while testing an aircraft during the first world war, and Frank served his country for many years, gaining the Air Force Cross in 1918. Frank’s three sons all served in the RAF during the second world war, and tragically all three were killed during the battle of Britain or shortly thereafter. I would like to mention their names for the record. They were: Pilot Officer David Usher Barnwell DFC, RAFVR, of 607 Squadron, who died aged 19 on 14 October 1941; Flight Lieutenant Richard Antony Barnwell, of 102 Squadron, who died aged 24 on 29 October 1940; and Pilot Officer John Sandes Barnwell, of 29 Squadron, who died aged 20 on 19 June 1940.

That capacity for service exemplifies so much about the Royal Air Force, and about how bravely those early aviators took to the skies in defence of their families, their communities and their country. That is the type of service that the Royal Air Force has given us as a nation, and we know that we can rely on its vigilance in the skies above us to protect and defend us.

Stirling has a proud connection with the Royal Air Force. The RAF had its Scottish headquarters in Stirling. In fact, the RAF command for Scotland based itself in the Station hotel for the first five years of its operation.

[Stephen Kerr]

The record does not show which part of the hotel was occupied. The hotel was demolished many years ago and the site is now occupied by a branch of the Clydesdale bank and a McDonald’s.

There is a memorial to the establishment of the RAF in the field under Stirling castle, where the planes took off and landed in the early days. In fact, it was noted by RAF officers at the time that Stirling had much to commend itself as an airfield, if only the castle rock was not in the way. Given that the Army was already entrenched in Stirling with its headquarters, it is quite possible that some early rivalries were at play, but thankfully the castle and the rock upon which it sits were never removed—that would have been quite a feat, even for our armed forces.

Stirling maintains its connection with the Royal Air Force to this day. In 2005, 43 Fighter Squadron was give the freedom of Stirling and paraded through the city. The “fighting cocks,” as they are commonly known, were the first RAF squadron to be given such an honour by a British city. They were stood down in 2009.

The battle honours on the standard held in the church of the Holy Rude in Stirling are a testament to the sacrifice of 43 Squadron, which served on the western front, 1917-18; Ypres, 1917; the Somme, 1918; Dunkirk and the battle of Britain, 1940; north Africa, 1942-43; and Anzio, France and Germany, 1944.

We should be proud of our history, and in Stirling we are—we honour the Royal Air Force and our connection with it. The RAF must be resourced to continue to serve our United Kingdom well into the future. The term “futureproofed” was used earlier, and it is a good measure against which to judge the investment we make in our air and space defences.

[Richard Graham]

My hon. Friend is kind in giving way. On the future of the RAF, does he agree with me—I speak with some interest, because I was once a cadet pilot in the Oxford University air squadron—that the university air squadrons have an important role to play in training both future RAF pilots and future champions of the RAF?

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

I had better declare an interest: I am an honourable companion of the RAF Regiment officers’ dinner club. I was brought up in the RAF, so I have a real soft spot for it and particularly for the RAF Regiment, of which my father was an officer. I am going to talk about the RAF Regiment, because only my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has mentioned the rock apes—which is what they are called colloquially because one shot another on a shooting expedition and said, “I thought it was a rock ape.”

The rock apes—the RAF Regiment—were formed on 1 February 1942. They had come from various armoured car squadrons—Nos. 1, 2 and 3, which had beautiful Rolls-Royce armoured vehicles—but fundamentally they were to become the infantry of the RAF. They were there to protect the RAF’s assets—the aeroplanes, the personnel and the airfields—and they did that spectacularly well. During the second world war, their numbers grew to 80,000. They operated in all theatres and took part in many battles, perhaps the most famous of which, from their point of view, was Meiktila, where in an area of 900 square metres in the middle of the Burmese jungle, a handful of RAF personnel, with Army personnel and Americans, held off the Japanese for three weeks. Each morning, they had to clear the Japanese from out of their lines. That is a battle honour of which the RAF Regiment is rightly proud.

RAF Regiment personnel were always up front, either directing aircraft for strikes or looking for airfields so that they could keep the momentum going for the ground forces, and that is what they did. Indeed, RAF Regiment personnel were among the first people into Paris and Brussels—nothing to do with the bars, I suspect. They also took over something like 16 airfields in north-west Germany very quickly. Squadron Leader Mark Hobden of the RAF Regiment captured Grand Admiral Doenitz, who was going to be Hitler’s successor. I knew Mark Hobden—he was my father’s commanding officer at one stage—and it was a real honour to meet him.

This is kept too quiet, really, but during the 1950s, the RAF Regiment operated a force called the Aden Protectorate Levies in a country that is now called Yemen. The force was based in Aden, and my father and fellow officers, warrant officers and senior non-commissioned officers of the RAF Regiment operated in the Aden Protectorate Levies. The force saw huge active service—so much so that at one stage the RAF Regiment was the most decorated regiment in the British service.

Let me give an example. On 15 June 1955, some 100 Aden Protectorate Levies personnel mounted in three Land Rovers and nine trucks moved into a wadi south of Fort Robat. Despite a little bit of sniping, the convoy got through to the fort, delivered its supplies to the people there and turned to come back. The personnel started back at 1.30 pm, by which time the local terrorist commander Salem Ali Mawer—a Houthi, by the way—was ready for them. Within a few minutes, the force of 100 people was heavily engaged from the sheer slopes of the wadi. Almost immediately, a young British RAF Regiment officer was killed, and so was an Arab soldier. Several others were wounded.

The commanding officer, Wing Commander Rodney Marshall, ordered my father, a squadron leader, to evacuate the wounded. My father did that. He took them down in a truck, all the way down the wadi—about 2 miles—but then some retreating soldiers, coming out of the wadi, said, “There are no officers left. The commanding officer is dead.” My father knew that he had to go back into the ambush to get everyone out. Meanwhile, in Aden, signals were coming back and I, as a little boy, with my mother, was told by the padre that my father was dead. The story was that all the officers had gone. What happened was this: the senior Arab officer and the commanding officer were killed. In total, eight people were killed, and another eight were wounded. My father received the Military Cross, as did, posthumously, Rodney Marshall, and the senior Arab officer.

I will just read a little bit from the citation in the London Gazette about my father after he learned that the commanding officer had been killed.

“Squadron Leader Stewart assumed command of the Force and immediately organised the volunteer party. He led them back into the area which was under heavy and accurate fire, in an attempt to recover the dead bodies and wounded. Unable to locate the dead body of the Wing Commander, he recovered a three ton vehicle which contained a dead guard and had one tyre deflated by rifle fire. He personally drove the damaged truck back under fire, twice stopping to pick up wounded. More casualties were inflicted during the return passage through the Wadi. In all there were eight killed and seven wounded. Having assumed command of the Force he moved it tactically to an emergency airstrip and organised the evacuation of the most seriously wounded. Sniping ensued during this evacuation and hostile and accurate fire was encountered.”

That is typical of the RAF Regiment. It is a superb, outstandingly professional force and a joy to be with. I often, every year, have dinner with them in the RAF Club.

[Richard Graham]

My hon. and gallant Friend has made a remarkable tribute to his father in the RAF Regiment. Will he allow me just to mention my step grandfather who fought in the first war with the Royal Flying Corps and was then seconded to the fledgling Estonian air force to be its chief flying instructor for some years? When he died in the 1980s, he said to me that his only regret was that three countries that he knew well—all three of the Baltic States—no longer existed. Times have changed, fortunately.

[Bob Stewart]

It is a lovely time to remember our families and to attune that with the history of the RAF.

Let me bring the House up to date. In Iraq, five RAF Regiment personnel were killed. Actually, I was present when three of them were killed because I was doing a film. I was cowering in a bathroom when the rockets came in and three RAF Regiment personnel were killed. Therefore, five were killed in Iraq and five more were killed in Afghanistan. These people are right on the frontline, and the RAF realises that. Three Military Crosses were awarded in Afghanistan and Iraq, which is pretty good for such a small number of squadrons.

I hope that I have highlighted, in the short time I have spoken, what a wonderful force the RAF Regiment is, how vital it is to this country, particularly to the Royal Air Force, and how it has a huge part in the future of the Royal Air Force.

I will finish by congratulating the RAF Regiment. The RAF may be 100, but the RAF Regiment, such a crucial part of the RAF, is 76, so well done the RAF Regiment.

--- Later in debate ---

[Martin Whitfield]

Indeed, the multifaceted skills and techniques in the machinery and in the individuals who make up the RAF do inspire and save. To use an old phrase, the RAF is one of the greatest ambassadors that this country has at times like that of the recent hurricane.

Time is quite tight, so I will use my small conclusion to make mention of one local group, the Aviation Preservation Society of Scotland, which personifies all the elements of the RAF that are so important. Over 17 years, the volunteers of the APSS have undertaken to build a replica Sopwith 1½ Strutter biplane. They have used original plans and materials, investing thousands of hours’ work to recreate a flying replica of this world war one plane. The volunteers, many of whom come from the RAF and the aviation industry in and around Edinburgh, have worked without grumble—but with plenty of tea and a lot of huddling around heaters in freezing cold warehouses—to bring this aeroplane to life. In doing so, they have done something much more: they have forged a friendship and a bond. They have given each other support that has generally been good. Their interconnection with each other shows what the RAF does when men and women are serving with it: they act as a family.

The Secretary of State and other right hon. and hon. Members have mentioned the duty that we owe these people with regard to their wellbeing and health. It is imperative that we remember this, because while they serve with the RAF, in whatever job, from the very smallest of opening the doors for someone, all the way through to those at the top—everyone puts pilots at the top, but I think there are others with equal right to claim superiority—they find they have the support they need. It is important that as they move out of the RAF and into other industries, we find a way to offer that support into the future.

[Richard Graham]

I am very impressed by what the hon. Gentleman said about his volunteers on the Sopwith Camel in East Lothian. This would be a good moment also to remember the amazing volunteers at the Jet Age Museum just outside Gloucester, who have recreated a number of aircraft and are working on a Typhoon at the moment. If he ever has a chance to visit, I would be very happy to take him round.

[Martin Whitfield]

I am very grateful for the invite. I will now leap back before I feel my phone ringing to say that it was of course a 1½ Strutter, not a Camel, in this case.

The work on the aeroplane was completed in time for this year’s Armistice Day, so 100 years after the end of world war one, these men—and some women—pushed out a replica aircraft from world war one. It truly was a fitting tribute to those remembrances. The plane is dedicated to First Lieutenant Richard Bell Davies VC, who came to prominence after the untimely death of Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning in his attempt to land a Sopwith Pup on the foredeck of HMS Furious for the third time. That fatal accident led to the building of the first flat top across a length of ship. People came across the problem that the funnels on the ships still needed to expel the poison gases, and so they built the island design that is still used on aircraft carriers today. Bell Davies was the first pilot to successfully take off and land again a 1½ Strutter on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

This shows that it is individuals who make up the RAF. Their dedication, perseverance, bravery and humour reflect all that is good about the RAF. The dedication of those in this country in honouring the RAF with acts from simple remembrance once a year, to dedicating time to building a replica of a plane that technologically led the world when it first flew, is testament not only to the role of the RAF but to how dearly this country holds the RAF in its heart.