The Royal Air Forces Association was sad to learn of the death of Air Marshal Sir Roy Austen-Smith, who began his operational career as a fighter pilot during the final months of the Second World War.
Sir Roy Austen-Smith, a former President of the Association’s Sheringham Branch in Norfolk, joined the RAF in 1942. He undertook his initial training at St Andrew’s University, Scotland, and his pilot training in Canada, where he learnt to fly Fleet Finches, Harvards and Hurricanes.
In 1944, he returned to England and learnt to fly Spitfires. By March 1945, he was posted to No. 41 Squadron, Eindhoven, to fly front-line attack missions over Germany and the Netherlands.
After the war, Sir Roy continued flying with the squadron until taking up a staff appointment in 1947 at the RAF’s Flying Training Command in Reading.
After a pilot refresher course at RAF Finningley, Yorkshire, in 1949, Sir Roy served as Flight Commander with No. 33 Squadron, leading sorties of Tempests, then Hornets, against terrorists during the Malayan Emergency. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in the region.
While in Asia, Sir Roy married his fiancée, Ann, and the couple celebrated the birth of their first son, David.
In 1953, Sir Roy was posted to RAF College Cranwell, Lincolnshire, and, in 1954, he and Ann had their second son, Jeremy.
Following a jet conversion course, Sir Roy was posted to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, where he became Officer Commanding of No. 73 Squadron.
Subsequent promotions, periods of Staff College training and postings, including flying Victor bombers while commanding No. 57 Squadron, led to his promotion to Group Captain in 1966. In 1968 he became Station Commander of RAF Wattisham, Suffolk.
On being promoted to Air Commodore in 1970, he was posted to the Ministry of Defence, London, and, two years later, having been promoted to Air Vice-Marshal, he became the Commandant of RAF College Cranwell.
Sir Roy was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1975 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
His final RAF roles included Commander British Forces Cyprus and Sovereign Base Areas Administrator, and Head of the British Defence Staff in Washington DC, USA.
His promotion to Air Marshal in 1979 came in the same year he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
After retiring from the RAF in November 1981, Sir Roy worked as an aviation consultant for Boeing, and was a Gentleman Usher to the Queen. He was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1994 New Year Honours.
On fully retiring, he and his wife settled in Norfolk, where Sir Roy enjoyed playing golf and was a church treasurer. He was an active member of the Sheringham and District Branch of the RAF Association, having worked as part of a new committee dedicated to saving it from closure in the early 1990s.
A few years ago, Sir Roy and his wife, Lady Ann, moved to an Oxford nursing home, but Sir Roy remained a member of the Sheringham Branch until his death last month at the age of 96.
Branch member Forbes Pearson, who was a friend of Sir Roy’s said:
“Despite his distinguished career as a fighter pilot, Sir Roy always talked about his time flying Victor bombers with particular affection. He was a generous and charming man who will be very sadly missed.”
