Basil Embry

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Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Edward Embry GCB KBE DSO and 3 bars DFC AFC RAF (28 February 1902 – 8 December 1977) was a senior Royal Air Force commander. He was Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command from 1949 to 1953.

Basil Embry was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1902 and as a young boy at Bromsgrove School he developed an avid interest in aviation. In 1921 he joined the Royal Air Force. In 1922 he was sent into Iraq, serving under future Air Marshals Arthur Harris and Robert Saundby. By 1926 Embry's enthusiasm, professional application, boundless energy and flair for the unconventional had put him on the fast track for promotion within the RAF, and he had been rewarded with the Air Force Cross.

Promoted to flight lieutenant, Embry returned to Britain in 1927 as instructor at the Central Flying School, Uxbridge.

In 1934 he was posted to India to serve in the Indian Wing on the North West Frontier. After five years service he returned to Britain in 1939. On the outbreak of the Second World War Embry was Commanding Officer of No 107 Squadron flying the Bristol Blenheim bomber.

The energetic Embry led his squadron from the front, and he saw extensive action during the campaigns in Norway and France, often in the face of heavy losses and overwhelming opposition. By late May 1940 Embry had added two DSOs to a DFC won the previous October. On 26th May 1940, Wing Commander Embry was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over St Omer during a low level bombing mission. Although captured by the German Army, undaunted he succeeded in escaping and was on the run for two months in occupied France before eventually getting back to England via Spain and Gibraltar (his adventures while on the run are detailed in the book "Wingless Victory" by Anthony Richardson, 1950)

After two months sick leave Embry (now a group captain) was posted to No. 6 Group as Senior Air Staff Officer. After only three weeks he was offered command of a night-fighter wing in Fighter Command, which was accepted, although he reverted to the rank of wing commander. The wing disbanded in December 1940 and Embry became AOC RAF Wittering. Embry kept his hand in operationally by flying radar equipped night-fighters with No. 25 squadron.

In October 1941 he was seconded to the Desert Air Force as an adviser and saw action in the Desert War.

Embry returned to Britain in March 1942 and served as AOC Wittering again and as AOC 10 Group, Fighter Command. He was passed over as the prime candidate for leading Bomber Command's newly formed Pathfinder Force in July 1942 before being given command of No 2 Group Bomber Command, which was about to join the 2nd Tactical Air Force in June, 1943. Although he was now an air vice marshal, Embry continued to fly on operations where possible, piloting each type of light bomber in his command to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the tools available to his aircrews. He usually flew as a 'wingman' in a formation, flying under the name of "Wing Commander Smith". This hands-on approach ensured Embry was worshipped by the men under his command, although his frank utterly honest criticisms made few friends within the Air Ministry.

He pushed fervently for 2 Group's re-equipment with the Mosquito FB VI, which became the highly potent workhorse of the Group by 1944. By October 1943 Embry's efforts had made 2 Group a highly effective weapon, with bombing accuracy and serviceability among the best in the Allied Air Forces. The group's contribution to the war effort, such as the bombing of V-1 launch sites in France and the anti-transportation offensive prior to D-Day was arguably decisive.

Embry's Mosquitoes also undertook specialist precision bombing operations such as the attack on Amiens jail, and on Gestapo headquarters in Aarhus, Copenhagen and Odense.

After the war Embry was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces, Central Europe. He was Commander-in-Chief Fighter Command from 1949 to 1953. His outspoken criticism of the NATO chain of command and organisation framework ensured however that he was retired early from the Royal Air Force in 1956. Basil Embry died in 1977.

" He was both charming and rude, prejudiced and broad-minded, pliable and obstinate, dedicated and human." (Group Captain Peter Wykeham, No 2 Group 1944-45)