Conway Pulford

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Air Vice Marshal Conway Walter Heath Pulford CB, OBE, AFC (born 1892, died 10 March 1942) was a senior Royal Air Force officer.

In 1941 he attempted to build up the RAF in the Far East to support all the forces under the Far East Command. But before the Japanese attacked on December 8, 1941 the Far East was given a low prioritory so little was done. To bolster his very small staff now that the war had started, Air Vice Marshal Paul Maltby arrived and undertook duties as his deputy. Pulford was authorised to evacuate himself on February 5, 1942, ten days later Pulford and his naval counterpart, Rear Admiral Spooner, where amongst the last to leave. Their motor boat was hit and forced to run aground on a malaria ridden island in the Juju group. The survivors managed to hold out for two months before being forced to surrender to the Japanese, but the Air Vice Marshal and Rear Admiral had both died of exhaustion and malaria. When Pulford did not arrive in Java, Maltby took over command of RAF Far East Command, but was captured and spent the rest of the war as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese.

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