The Association was sad to learn of the death of Air Marshal Sir Frederick ‘Freddie’ Sowrey, who was the last survivor in a line of family members to give a combined 65 years of unbroken RAF service.
Freddie, whose father, two uncles and other family members served in the RAF, flew American Mustang and Tomahawk fighters during the Second World War.
After completing 200 flying hours, spent mostly helping to protect the south coast of England from enemy raids, Freddie helped to train glider pilots for the D-Day Landings. He also flew tank-busting missions against German forces.
Freddie was granted a permanent commission in 1946, rose through the ranks and became personal Staff Officer to Air Chief Marshal Sir Thomas Pike, Chief of the Air Staff, in the early 1960s. Later that decade he was posted to Aden in Yemen, and was responsible for the safe withdrawal of thousands of British forces personnel from the former colony in 1967.
On his return to the UK, Freddie became Director of Defence Policy at the Ministry of Defence for two years.
But it was during the 1970s that he held his most esteemed positions, serving first as Commandant of the National Defence College and then, finally, as Director General of RAF Training.
He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1978, and retired from the RAF as an Air Marshal in 1980.
It is claimed that, over the course of Freddie’s 40-year career, he flew more than 60 different types of aircraft for the RAF, including the Meteor and Javelin jet fighters.
Freddie, who died aged 96 on 24 July, was Chairman and Life President of the RAF Historical Society, which he helped to establish, and was President of the No 46 Squadron RAF Association. He had an unbroken 65 years of membership with the RAF Association.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
