RAF top gun : the story of Battle of Britain ace and world air speed holder Air Cdre E.M. "Teddy" Donaldson CB, CBE, DSO, AFC*, LoM (USA)

326 Pages·2008·3 MB·English

by  Thomas

ETERNITY
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.
W. Blake

First published in Great Britain in 2008 by
Pen & Sword Aviation
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright © Nick Thomas 2008
9781844684755

The right of Nick Thomas to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.

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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Foreword - Air Commodore P. M. Brothers CBE DSO DFC and BAR
Introduction
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE - Early Tribulations
CHAPTER TWO - Canadian Escapade
CHAPTER THREE - Dawn of a Career
CHAPTER FOUR - Scrapes in the Sudan
CHAPTER FIVE - More Skills and New Thrills
CHAPTER SIX - Triumph in Zurich
CHAPTER SEVEN - Storm Clouds Over Europe
CHAPTER EIGHT - War – Early Incidents and a Tragic Loss
CHAPTER NINE - Blitzkrieg on France
CHAPTER TEN - Forward Operations and Escape from Vitry
CHAPTER ELEVEN - A Change of Attitude
CHAPTER TWELVE - Dunkirk – Doing Our Level Best
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Escort Duties
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Short Leave as Paris Falls
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Posted Missing
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Prelude to the ‘The Battle’
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Britain Alone — To Hell and Back
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Aftermath and Reflection
CHAPTER NINETEEN - Chief Flying Instructor
CHAPTER TWENTY - A ‘Limey’ in America
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - From Captain to Colonel
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - A Signal Honour
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - ‘Friendly’ Fire
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - The Jet Age
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - High Speed Flight
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - Saved by an Engineer
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - The Fastest Man Alive
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - From Hero to Zero
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - White Heat of the Cold War
CHAPTER THIRTY - Crises on All Fronts
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - Aden and Arab Nationalism
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - Commandant and Duty Done
CHAPTER THIRTY - THREE - Cub Journalist and Amateur Sailor
APPENDIX 1 - Dramatis Personae
Bibliography
Index
Foreword
Air Commodore P. M. Brothers CBE DSO DFC and BAR
Chairman of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association

It was a Sunday in early 1937 and I was Duty Officer at Biggin Hill for the
weekend, so my girlfriend, later to be my wife, came for afternoon tea in the
Ladies Room. To our surprise the door burst open and in bounced a small, fair-
haired officer accompanied by his friend, a Biggin Hill officer named Shand. I
may have nodded a greeting, but under the circumstances they were not the most
popular visitors. For the first time I had met Teddy Donaldson and I was not
impressed by this laughing, chattering Cavalier who had chosen to invade our
privacy depsite the availability of the rest of the Officers’ Mess!
War came and went and we did not meet again until 1968 when I was Director
of Public Relations in the Ministry of Defence and Teddy was Air
Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. We met at Press Briefings and air
shows and became firm friends, both being Battle of Britain pilots.
This biography of Air Commodore Edward Mortlock Donaldson CB, CBE,
DSO, AFC and Bar, better know as Teddy, paints a comprehensive picture of a
man devoted to the Royal Air Force, into which he was commissioned in 1931,
and it tells of his family background, his Service career and World War II in
great detail. Here was a man who appeared on the surface to be a laughing,
happy irrepressible officer when in fact he was a thoughtful dedicated person
who tackled any task he was given with energy and determination after
thoroughly evaluating the problem confronting him.
His efforts in America to help the USAAF at first were not well received, his
deep study of the possibilities of disaster when considering the attack on the
world air speed record in a Meteor, and his courage in flying the aircraft and
gaining the record speak for themselves. The laughing Cavalier was not the man
I first thought but a man who was a credit to the Service and himself, whose
name and fame were legendary throughout the Royal Air Force and in aviation