Waite, Reginald Newnham, 1901-1975, Air Commodore

Born in 1901; educated at Repton School and RAF Cadet College, Cranwell; commissioned, 1921; various posts in Coastal Command, 1921-1939; served in First Lord's Operations Room, Admiralty, 1939-1942; commanded RAF Station, St Eval, Cornwall, 1942, commanded Coastal Command Station, Nassau, Bahamas, 1942-1944; served at Supreme HQ, Allied Expeditionary Force, 1944-1946; Director of Air Branch, Control Commission, Berlin, 1947-1949; devised and organised the Air Lift to Berlin in 1948; conducted Anglo-Russian enquiry into collision between Yak fighter and GB civilian aircraft flying from Hamburg to Berlin during the Berlin Airlift, 1948; Commandant, RAF Bircham Newton; Assistant Chief of Staff, Allied Air Forces, Central Europe, 1951-1953; retired 1953; died in 1975.