GRANDY, John (#2)

When Grandy received a call that evening telling him to leave for Duxford, he wondered if he was being relieved of his command, and he asked “What to do?” “You are going to command it, you BF, as from tomorrow,” barked Air Vice-Marshal R E Saul.

RAF Duxford had certainly changed since Grandy had piloted a British Movietone News cameraman in a Hart biplane during the 1935 review of the RAF by King George V. Grandy found himself responsible for the introduction of the Typhoon, which had already resulted in the loss of several pilots; but he set about improving morale, not least by inviting the catering officer to provide fare superior to the normal rations. He participated in the test flying himself, and later flew a Typhoon on the Dieppe Raid, an operation which gave him considerable insight into the limitations of the aircraft, which afterwards became a useful fighter bomber.

Grandy was next sent to command No 210 Air Defence Group, charged with the defence of Tripoli, then moved to the Suez Canal Zone to command 73 Fighter Operational Training Unit. He tried to return to fighter operations, but instead was given command of 341 Wing in Burma. This comprised four Dakota transport squadrons which penetrated mountainous areas in monsoon storms to drop supplies to the 14th Army.

On May 4 1945, he flew over Rangoon, where PoWs had painted on the roof of their prison “JAP GONE, RAF HERE, EXTRACT DIGIT”. Grandy dropped some Allied flags before landing at Mingaladon, and evacuating the weakest prisoners.

Charlton Heston, The Duke of Kent and James Maitland “Jimmy” Stewart, formerly of the 453rd Bomb Group at a reunion. Handwritten caption on reverse: ‘Heston, Grandy, Kent, James Stewart.’ © IWM FRE 15094

John Grandy was born on February 8 1913 and educated at University College School, London. He joined the RAF on a short service commission and flew Bulldogs, Harts and Demons with fighter squadrons. In 1936 he completed a flying instructor’s course at the Central Flying School, the prelude to four years of instructor duties. After being awarded a permanent commission, Grandy served as adjutant of the London University Air Squadron, gaining the rarely awarded A1 instructor category.

Shortly after the outbreak of war, he commanded No 219 Squadron, operating the outclassed Blenheim, and was not slow in alerting his AOC to the aircraft’s unsuitability as a fighter. Soon afterwards he was given command of No 249 Squadron.

After the war he was heavily involved in the evacuation of civilians during the bloody fighting in the Dutch East Indies, then attended the Army staff college course. He had a two-year spell as Air Attaché in Brussels before returning to Fighter Command, where he rose to become Commandant of the Central Fighter Establishment. Here he was much concerned with developing the tactics of the new Hunter and Javelin fighters.

Thoughtful, reflective and blessed with an original mind, Grandy was clearly destined for higher rank. He started to attend the Imperial Defence College course in 1957, but was plucked out to take over command of the second phase of Operation Grapple, the hydrogen bomb tests on Christmas Island.

THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, 1950-1969 (RAF-T 1177) The view from an RAF aircraft looking down on Christmas Island. © IWM RAF-T 1177

By the end of 1958 he was Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) in the Air Ministry, where he was required to oversee the draconian cuts ordered by the 1957 Sandys Defence Review. As Commander-in-Chief of RAF Germany and Commander of Nato’s 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force, Grandy had to deal with the tensions caused by the building of the Berlin Wall while at the same time reluctantly implementing a contraction of the RAF’s strength in Germany.

When he took charge of Bomber Command in 1963, Grandy found himself involved in the cancellation of the air-launched Skybolt missile, and in changing tactics to low level flying in order to counter his V-Force’s growing vulnerability to the increasingly effective air defence radar system of the Warsaw Pact.

Grandy’s appointment in 1965 as the Commander-in-Chief of Far East Command during the period of confrontation with Indonesia gave him responsibility for the three British services amd several Commonwealth countries. As British military adviser to the South East Asia Treaty Organisation, he enjoyed exposure to joint military operations and high-level politics, which made him an ideal candidate for the post of Chief of the Air Staff.

Grandy took office on April 1 1967, the 49th anniversary of the formation of the RAF. When he had to oversee the transfer of the strategic nuclear role to the Navy, he characteristically paid tribute to the RAF’s long hours of “arduous duty in cockpits, crew rooms, dispersals, hangars and operations rooms”. He was confronted with the Labour government’s cancellation of both the Anglo-French variable geometry aircraft and the order for the American F-111, the replacement for the already cancelled TSR 2.

But he also had charge of the introduction of the vertical take-off and landing Harrier, together with the decision to collaborate with the Germans and Italians in the development of the multi-role combat aircraft which later became known as the Tornado.

After retiring in 1971 Grandy served, from 1973 to 1978, as the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar, the first RAF officer to fill the post; he was then Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle for 10 years. He served as chairman of the Trustees of the Imperial War Museum from 1978 to 1989. He was a trustee of St Clement Danes, the RAF church; the Prince Philip Trust Fund; the Burma Star Association; and the Shuttleworth Remembrance Trust. From 1984 to 1987 he was President of the Air League, of which he was made a Companion in 2001. He was also a vice-president of the National Association of Boys’ Clubs, a life vice-president of the RNLI and a patron of the Polish Air Force Association. He was a Freeman of the City of London and an Honorary Liveryman of the Haberdashers’ Company.

John Grandy was a keen golfer, and enjoyed sailing his ketch Astra Volante at Cowes, where he was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

He was awarded the DSO in 1945 and twice mentioned in dispatches. He was appointed CB in 1956; KBE in 1961; KCB in 1964; GCB in 1967; and GCVO in 1988.

In 1937 John Grandy married Cecile Elisabeth Florence Rankin, younger daughter of Sir Robert Rankin, Bt, with whom he had two sons. She died in 1993.” (Obituary courtesy of The Daily Telegraph)