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Air Marshal Sir John "Win" Harris Memorial Service
The Memorial Service for Air Marshal Sir John "Win" Harris would have taken place on Friday 30th April at St Clement Danes Church. The Harris Family have kindly forwarded a copy of what would have been his Order of Service. In their note to the Association were some kind words. "Despite not being able to gather as loyal friends and family for a final send off, we hope you might find time to raise a glass or two in his memory." The CCMAA will make an appropriate toast at the CCMAA Reunion Dinner in Salisbury on 30 October.
The order of service can be viewed here.
 

Third RAF Poseidon named
 after Squadron Leader Terry Bulloch

The third of nine Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft has been named after the highest scoring pilot in Coastal Command in WW2.    Poseidon MRA.1 ZP803 currently being completed in the USA sports the name ‘Terence Bulloch DSO* DFC* RAF’ in recognition of the pilot who made the greatest number of attacks against submarines in the Battle of the Atlantic.  RAF News Story.

In 2015 Members of Coastal Command and Maritime Air Association in conjunction with their US Navy colleagues gathered at the RAF Club in London on Saturday 25th April 2015 to honour the late Squadron Leader Terrence Bulloch DSO and bar and DFC and bar with news of his ‘induction’ into the United States Navy Hall of Honour. Very sadly Terry died prior to the announcement of the honour, so was unable to receive it in person.

 
Remembrance Parade at the Cenotaph in London,
10 Nov 2019
Over 20 Association Members attended the Remembrance Service and March Past the Cenotaph in London on Sunday the 10th November 2019. The weather behaved itself, a dry but cold morning; thankfully the rain cleared up in time for the service. As always a very moving and thought provoking occasion.
The CCMAA on Parade.
The CCMAA on Parade.
 
Air Marshal Sir John "Win" Harris
From the Daily Telegraph, Monday 16th July.

AIR MARSHAL SIR JOHN “WIN” HARRIS

Expert on anti-submarine operations a ‘champion of the maritime air force’

Air Marshal Sir John 'Win' Harris KCB, CBE, RAF.Air Marshal Sir John ‘Win’ Harris, KCB, CBE, RAF, who has died aged 81, had a career dominated by service in the RAF’s maritime forces where his experiences made him a leading authority on anti-submarine operations.

In May 1968 Harris began a two-year exchange posting with the United States Navy (USN). Based at Key West in Florida, he joined the Test and Evaluation Squadron where his duties were as a trials project officer on the Lockheed P3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft. The appointment introduced him to the advanced equipment and techniques in anti-submarine warfare.

His return to Britain in October 1970 coincided with the introduction into RAF service of the Nimrod, an aircraft based on the Comet airliner and equipped with the latest technology. The aircraft provided a quantum leap in capability as an anti-submarine aircraft.

Harris was posted to the Central Trials and Tactics Organisation at Northwood where his recent experience with the USN provided the ideal platform for him to write the tactics manual for the Nimrod. This subsequently was adopted as the standard manual for the whole of the RAF’s maritime force.

After three years, Harris took command of one of the first Nimrod squadrons, No 201, at Kinloss in Morayshire. Under his dynamic leadership, the squadron tracked and monitored the increasingly capable surface and sub-surface Soviet naval forces in the North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea.

This also included monitoring regular movements of the Soviet Northern Fleet based in Murmansk, as it made regular transits to and from the Mediterranean and Cuba. The squadron’s professionalism was reflected in one of Harris’s crews winning the Aird Whyte Trophy, an anti-submarine warfare competition between the best crews from each of the Nimrod squadrons.

John Hulme Harris, known throughout the RAF as Win, was born on June 3 1938 in Stranraer and educated in Egypt, where his father was serving in the RAF, then at King Edward VII School, Kings Lynn. He joined the RAF as a trainee pilot in March 1957.

His burning ambition to be a fighter pilot was thwarted by the rapid rundown of Fighter Command following major defence cuts and he went to Kinloss – where he met his wife in Inverness – to train on the Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft. In January 1960 he joined No 224 Squadron based at Gibraltar. By the end of his two years he had been made captain of his own crew.

He trained as flying instructor and was awarded the Central Flying School Trophy as the best all-round student on his course. He went to No. 3 Flying Training School at Leeming in North Yorkshire where he was made a flight commander and led the aerobatic team flying the Jet Provost.

After a brief ground tour he left for the United States, the prelude to a series of increasingly important appointments in the maritime air role.

After his time in command of No 201 Squadron, in July 1976 he joined a joint Royal Navy-RAF team on a special project to introduce computer programmes for the maritime force. This was followed by an appointment as the senior air staff officer at the HQ Northern Maritime Region based at Pitreavie Castle in Scotland where he was also appointed as an ADC to the Queen.

Harris returned to Kinloss in December 1979, this time as the station commander responsible for three squadrons of the new Mark 2 Nimrod. The tracking of Soviet warships and the provision of support for the UK strategic deterrent force of Polaris submarines remained the main tasks of the station. Harris was a “hands on” commander and continued to fly on patrols and keep abreast of the latest tactics. At the end of his tour he was appointed CBE.

The following two years were spent at Nato headquarters in Brussels where he served as the Military Assistant to the United Kingdom’s Military Representative.

After spending almost three years in MoD responsible for all flying training, his next appointment, in December 1987, provided a very different experience when he was made Commandant General of the RAF Regiment and Director General Security.

During this latter appointment he was determined to win the annual air officers’ shooting competition at Bisley. He spent several days before the event receiving intensive training from the Queen’s Colour Squadron. He won, much to the chagrin of his fellow air officers, and he was particularly pleased for the Regiment.

By April 1991 Harris returned to the maritime role as the Chief of Staff at HQ 18 (Maritime) Group at Northwood. In addition to his Nimrod squadrons, he controlled two Buccaneer strike attack squadrons and the search and rescue helicopter force. Within a year he had been appointed the Air Officer Commanding, a post that carried with it the senior Nato appointments of COMMAIREASTLANT and COMMAIRCHAN (Commander of the maritime air forces in the East Atlantic and Channel regions).

At Northwood he worked in a joint headquarters alongside his Royal Navy and Nato compatriots where his reputation and deep understanding of the maritime air role was greatly valued and respected.

Over decades, the RAF’s maritime squadrons had developed into a particularly close-knit force and Harris’s long-standing experience and expertise made him a particularly effective commander in his various appointments. Those under his command appreciated and acknowledged his pedigree and he was never more comfortable than when he was mixing with all ranks in the RAF’s maritime community.

Harris retired from the RAF in June 1996 having been appointed CB in 1991 and KCB in 1992.

Harris has been described as the “champion of the maritime air force”. He was appalled at the loss of the RAF’s maritime capability following the scrapping of the Nimrod 4A and he joined other senior retired RAF officers in publicly lamenting the loss of this capability. While welcoming the eventual decision to purchase an American aircraft, the P-8 Poseidon, he publicly expressed concern that these had been ordered in insufficient numbers for an island nation that continued to have a strategic nuclear capability.

Throughout his long time in the maritime force, he had maintained a friendly banter with the navigators – many would claim them to be the key members of a Nimrod crew – and when he retired his navigators commissioned a stained-glass window with the navigator’s flying badge as the centrepiece, which he installed in the downstairs lavatory of his house as a constant reminder.

In July 1962, Harris married Ina Murray. After his retirement they retired to Morayshire where he enjoyed fly-fishing for salmon on the River Findhorn and tending his garden. His deteriorating physical health impacted on his two great interests, and the loss of his caring wife in 2018 affected him deeply.

He is survived by their two sons.

Air Marshal Sir John “Win” Harris, born June 3 1938, died July 2 2019.

 
Air Marshal Sir John "Win" Harris

It is with deep regret the Coastal Command and Maritime Air Association announce the passing of Air Marshal Sir John “Win” Harris KCB, CBE, RAF. “Win” as he was known through most of his career was a Shackleton Pilot, a Nimrod Squadron Commander, No. 201 Squadron RAF, and Station Commander of RAF Kinloss, the UK’s major Nimrod Maritime Patrol Aircraft base. His career thereafter included many senior executive roles, and culminated in the position of the Air Officer Commanding 18 Group at the height of the Cold War where a great deal of the Nimrod force actions policing Russian Naval activity went largely unseen and unheard.   A close member of the RAF family even in retirement he was able to keep in close touch with his former colleagues.  A great Coastal and Maritime man who will be sadly missed by all his family, friends, RAF colleagues and former subordinates alike.

 
Remembrance Parade at the Cenotaph in London,
11 Nov 2018
A record number of association members attended the Remembrance Sunday parade at the Cenotaph on the 11th November 2018.
A record number of association members attended the Remembrance Sunday parade at the Cenotaph on the 11th November 2018.
Peter Hill had prepared a brief for the BBC some weeks ago, and remarked it was nice to hear Mr Dimbleby referring to the CCMA within his commentary. "We did appear briefly on the TV, but the WRAF’s in front stole the show, a great bunch of ladies. A long but rewarding day."
 
RAF 100
The Association was represented at the RAF 100 commemoration on the 10th July 2018, at both Westminster Abbey and the Reception at Horse Guards Parade, by both the Vice President AVM Andrew Roberts, Chairman John Cairns and five members.
RAF 100 Commemoration.
RAF 100 Commemoration.
 
Older News information.
News older than 2018
News older than 2015
 

Changed Your E-Mail Address Recently?

Have you let the membership Secretary know about it?   It is not to late....

 
Royal Air Force Service Records - Personnel Records
As the years progress we receive an increasing amount of requests from individuals concerning either family or friends "Service History" requests.  As an Association we do not have access to these records.

The following is an extract from the MOD RAF Website:

"Personnel Records

Royal Air Force personnel records are held at RAF Cranwell. If service number and details are known, please quote it in correspondence. Cranwell will only divulge information to the person to whom it refers or, if he or she has died, to his or her immediate next of kin. Anyone else must obtain written permission from the person about whom they are enquiring, or from his or her next of kin, before any information will be given to them.

Cranwell make a charge of £30.00 for any information they provide; cheques made payable to 'MOD Funds'. The only people exempt from charge are the person to whom the records refer or their widow or widower."

For further details : www.raf.mod.uk/links/contacts.cfm

 
 The Cinderella Service

The Cinderella Service by Andrew Hendrie.

This book reveals the vital contribution that RAF Coastal Command made to the Allies war effort. Although often referred to as the 'Cinderella Service' because by its nature, it did not gain the recognition it deserved and was overshadowed by Fighter and Bomber Commands and considering that it was not given priority in terms of aircraft and equipment, its wartime record was second to none. The two main roles of Coastal Command were anti-submarine work in the Atlantic and anti-shipping operations against enemy warships and merchant vessels. This work looks at every aspect of the command's work, equipment and aircraft and draws upon many first-hand accounts. Lengthy and comprehensive appendices cover Orders of Battle, Commanders, U boats sunk, ships sunk aircraft losses and casualties.


Available from www.Pen-and-Sword.co.uk

Details 
ISBN  1844153460
Author Andrew W.A. Hendrie, BA, ARHistS, ARAes, PhD
Type    Hardback
Size     246 X 172

"Not Met"

A message from our Newsletter editor. Could the person who contacted him enquiring about Sgt John Howitt please get in touch again. Ian suffered some over exuberant clearing out of a hard drive.....

Webmaster 

Queen Mary "Met".RMS Queen Mary "Met" in the post war era.

Escort of Independent Merchant Vessels was a procedure during WWII, where aircraft were sometimes called upon to escort independently routed merchant vessels including "Monster Liners."

This exercise continued into the Sunderland Era. It was not unknown for an exchange officer returning to the USA or similar to be "Intercepted" on his cruise home. Have you an amusing "Met" or "Not Met" Story?

Click on the image below for information on the CCMAA Newsletter.

Click here for a information on the CCMAA Newsletter.

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