Collection WHEELER, N - WHEELER, ACM Sir Henry Neil George (1917-2009)

Key Information

Reference code

WHEELER, N

Title

WHEELER, ACM Sir Henry Neil George (1917-2009)

Date(s)

  • 1939-1991 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent

4 files and 1 album or 0.02m3

Scope and content

Papers of ACM Sir Neil Wheeler including training account, report, press cuttings and photographs, 1939-1991, notably a comprehensive report on the Royal Air Force Operations in Malaya, June 1948-March 1949, produced by Air Headquarters, Royal Air Force Malaya, May 1949; text for talk by Wheeler on early aerial photographic reconnaissance, delivered at a Royal Air Force Historical Society seminar, 1991; undated detailed account of training for, planning and leading wing strikes against shipping convoys, 1942-1943. Cutting of article 'Cameramen of the Air: Photographing bomb damage - vital work of RAF PRU'S (Photographic Reconnaissance Units)', from The Times, 1 Sept 1943. Printed maps of Norwegian, English, French and German coastlines, [1942], with handwritten annotations. Album of Photographic Reconnaissance Unit photographs, 1940-1941, many with captions, showing locations in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway including: Brest harbour; anti-aircraft fire over Cherbourg; Morlaix; Brest; Chateau Bougon Aerodrome, Nantes; Nantes; St Nazaire; La Rochelle; La Pallice; Rochefort; Bordeaux; Dunkirk, showing wrecks on beaches; Le Havre; Zeebrugge; Boulogne; railway yards near Calais; Vlissingen Aerodrome; Antwerp; Ter Neuzen; Flushing; St Inglevert Aerodrome; Knickerbein W/T beam stations; Amsterdam; Ijmuiden; Gravelines; the Nordzee Canal; Caen; Schipol aerodrome; Stavanger; Bergen; Egersund Port; convoys in the Skaggerak area; Herl-Herdla Aerodrome; Lista aerodrome; Kiel; Bremerhaven; Brunsbuttel; Wilhelmshaven; The Hague; Dieppe; Rotterdam; Poix Aerodrome; Ostend; also photograph of shelling damage in Guernica, Spain, 2 Jun 1941; photograph of office showing maps and operations board for 8 Apr 1941; printed map with drawn annotations showing the ranges in nautical miles of medium range, long range, super long range and extra super long range Spitfires from Wick, St Eval and Heston. Loose photographs, 1939-1943, many with captions, showing: aircraft including a Maryland, a Swordfish, a Hawker Fury and a Heyford; Wheeler and colleagues at airfields in Wick, Scotland and St Eual, Cornwall, 1941; Wheeler and aircrew of 236 Squadron, 1943. Also painting of the insignia of 236 Squadron.

System of arrangement

Four files arranged in sections as above and one oversized photograph album.

General Information

Name of creator

(1917-2009)

Biographical history

Born in 1917; educated St Helens College, Hants; Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, 1935; Bomber Command, 1937-1940; Fighter and Coastal Commands, 1940-1945; Royal Air Force and US Army Staff Colleges, 1934-1944; Cabinet Office, 1944-1945; Directing Staff, Royal Air Force Staff College, 1945-1946; Far East Air Force, 1947-1949; Directing Staff, Joint Services Staff College, 1949-1951; Bomber Command, 1951-1953; Air Ministry, 1953-1957; Assistant Commandant, Royal Air Force College, 1957-1959; Officer Commanding, RAF Laarbruch, 1959-1960; Imperial Defence College, 1961; Ministry of Defence, 1961-1963; Senior Air Staff Officer, Headquarters, RAF Germany, 1963-1966; Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Operational Requirements), Ministry of Defence, 1966-1967; Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, 1967-1968; Commander, Far East Air Force, 1969-1970; Air Member for Supply and Organisation, Ministry of Defence, 1970-1973; Controller, Aircraft, Ministry of Defence Procurement Executive; 1973-1975; retired 1975; died in 2009.

Custodial history

Presented to the Centre by ACM Sir Neil Wheeler, May 2004.

Conditions governing access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.

Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, via the Archives.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Finding aids

This collection level description.

Related descriptions

Alternative identifier(s)

People and Organisations

Genre access points

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.

Script(s)

Archivist's note

Compiled by Katharine Higgon.

Accession area