Hugh Champion de Crespigny

Hugh Champion de Crespigny
Air Vice Marshal Hugh Champion de Crespigny c.1943
Born	(1897-04-08)8 April 1897 Elsternwick, Australia
Died	20 June 1969(1969-06-20) (aged 72)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army (1914–18)  Royal Air Force (1918–45)
Years of service	1915–1945
Rank	Air Vice Marshal
Commands held	No. 21 (Training) Group (1943–46) AHQ Iraq (1942–43) No. 25 (Armament) Group (1939–42) No. 8 Flying Training School (1936–39) No. 2 (Indian) Wing (1930–34) No. 39 Squadron (1925–30) No. 60 Squadron (1922–24) No. 65 Squadron (1918) No. 29 Squadron (1917)
Battles/wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	Companion of the Order of the Bath Military Cross Distinguished Flying Cross Mentioned in Despatches Croix de guerre (France)

Air Vice Marshal Hugh Vivian Champion de Crespigny CB, MC, DFC (8 April 1897 – 20 June 1969) was a senior Royal Air Force officer who commanded British Air Forces in Iraq during the Second World War.

RAF career

Hugh Champion de Crespigny joined the Special Reserve of the Royal Flying Corps in 1915 during the First World War.^[1] He went on to be Officer Commanding No. 29 Squadron on the Western Front and then Officer Commanding No. 65 Squadron also on the Western Front.^[1] After the war he went to India where he commanded No. 60 Squadron and then No. 39 Squadron and finally No. 2 (Indian) Wing.^[1]

He served in the Second World War as Air Officer Commanding No. 25 (Armament) Group, as Air Officer Commanding Air Headquarters Iraq and then as Air Officer Commanding No. 21 (Training) Group.^[1] He retired in 1945.^[1]

After the war he stood as a Labour Party candidate for the British Parliament in Newark.^[2] and then became Regional Commissioner for Schleswig-Holstein for the Control Commission for Germany.^[1] In 1948 he was succeeded as commissioner by William Asbury and stayed in Kiel as British consul until 1956. He later lived at Vierville in Natal, South Africa.^[3]

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