Jack Baldwin (RAF officer)


Sir John Eustice Arthur Baldwin, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

Early life

Educated at Rugby School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Baldwin was commissioned into the 8th Hussars in 1911 and served as a cavalry Officer in the First World War.

Military Service

Baldwin was awarded the Royal Aero Club's Aviator's Certificate no. 971 on 17 November 1914 and became a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. He was appointed Officer Commanding No. 55 Squadron in October 1916 and Officer Commanding No. 41 Wing in December 1917 before transferring to the Royal Air Force on its formation in 1918. He was appointed Commandant of the Central Flying School in 1928 and served as Aide-de-Camp to King George V from 1931 to 1932. He went on to be Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group in 1934, Director of Personal Services in 1935 and Commandant of the RAF College Cranwell in 1936 before taking up the post of Air Officer Commanding No. 21 Group in 1938. He retired in August 1939.
Just two weeks later, Baldwin was recalled to serve in the Second World War as Air Office Commanding No. 3 Group at RAF Bomber Command. Between 9 January and 21 February 1942, he was acting Commander in Chief of Bomber Command, after the removal of Richard Peirse. During this brief tenure the "Channel Dash" occurred, when the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau escaped from the French port of Brest and fled up the English Channel to the sanctuary of Kiel harbour in northern Germany. In October 1942 he became Deputy Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, India. This appointment was followed from November 1943 by his posting as Air Officer Commanding Third Tactical Air Force which supported the ground battle in South East Asia. On 5 February 1943, Baldwin attended the departure of Major General Orde Wingate, the Chindits and the 1st Air Commando Group departed for Operation THURSDAY in Burma. He reverted to the Retired List again on 15 December 1944. Jack was Colonel of the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars from 1948 until 1958, when the unit amalgamated to form the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars.

Personal life

In 1916 Jack Baldwin married Kathleen Betsy Terry of the York confectionery family, they lived in the village of Ketton, Rutland from the 1930s to the 1950s and had two children, John and Pamela. John Noel Anthony Baldwin became a Captain in the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars and was killed in action in 1942 in Libya. Baldwin was the High Sheriff of Rutland for 1955–56.