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Air Commodore Sir Archibald Winskill
January 24, 1917 - August 9, 2005
Battle of Britain fighter ace who was shot down twice and later became Captain of the Queen's Flight

A BATTLE OF BRITAIN fighter pilot, Archie Winskill subsequently flew fighter escort sorties for bombing raids over France in 1941, during one of which he was shot down near St Omer. Avoiding capture, thanks to the French, he escaped over the Pyrenees, and returned to fighter operations, this time in the North African theatre. There he was shot down for a second time, again evading capture and returning to his unit. Ending the war as a fighter ace, with a tally of nine kills, he was given a permanent commission. He flew jets, acted as air adviser to the Belgian Government, and ended his career with a stint of 14 years in command of the Queen’s Flight. Archibald Little Winskill was born in Penrith in 1917 and educated at Penrith and Carlisle Grammar Schools. Joining the RAFVR in 1937, he trained as a pilot and was called up in September 1939. The following August he was commissioned and in October was posted to the high-scoring 603 Squadron whose Spitfires were flying from Hornchurch. On October 29, 1940, he tackled his first Me109 and claimed a “probable” combat victory. The following month he had a third share in a Heinkel He111 with two other pilots of his squadron. On November 23 he was involved in repelling one of the few air raids on England made by the Italian Air Force — one of the less well-documented passages of the Battle of Britain. Although the Germans regarded this belated Italian participation (indeed, the November raid was outside the “official” limit of that conflict) as being of scant value, given the obsolete aircraft that were available to the Regia Aeronautica, it had become a political necessity in Italy, which had previously sought to feast on the corpse of defeated France and now wanted to do the same to England. A number of bombing raids, launched from Belgian airfields in October, inflicted little damage — though they provided useful propaganda photographs for the Italian press. The raid of November 23 was a fighter sweep carried out by 29 biplane CR42s, covered by a force of G50s, which however lost contact with the biplanes. The CR42s were now heavily mauled by the Spitfires of No 603 which intercepted them over Folkestone. Winskill shot down two of the enemy on a day in which 603 claimed seven combat victories and two probables. In 1941 he was posted to 41 Squadron, flying fighter sweeps and bomber escort sorties as part of the Tangmere Wing, which was commanded by the legless ace Douglas Bader. On August 14 that year he was flying one of 36 Spitfires escorting a raid by Blenheim bombers on the St Omer railyards, when they were jumped by Me109s. Running dogfights ensued, during which Winskill shot down one Me109 but was himself hit by cannon fire from a second. As his aircraft spun out of control he baled out at low level and came down in a cornfield. There he hid while the Germans searched the area where his Spitfire had crashed. (Bader had been shot down in the same area only a few days before.) That night, as he still lurked among the corn, an 18-year-old French farmboy located him. After being hidden for several weeks while the hue and cry died down, he was put into the hands of an escape network, and passed down its escape line to the Pyrenees. From there, via Andorra, Barcelona and Madrid, he gained the haven of Gibraltar, from where he returned to England to be awarded the first of his two DFCs. He returned to operations, but since flying over Europe was forbidden to those who had used a Resistance escape route, lest they divulge information in the event of their being recaptured, he was posted to an air defence squadron in Scotland, before being given command of 232 Squadron, which he led to North Africa in December 1942. In January 1943 he was shot down over Tunisia, but baled out and came down in the sea. He was picked up by Arabs and taken to shore, where he made his way back through German positions and regained his squadron. Over the next few months of the Tunisian campaign, Winskill shot down several more German aircraft, and was awarded a Bar to his DFC. For the remainder of the war he was an instructor and later commandant of the Fighting Wing at the Central Gunnery School. He gained the Air Efficiency Award (AE) in 1944. After the war he commanded a squadron with the Allied occupation forces in Japan. From 1949, having converted to jets, he had three years as an air adviser to the Belgian Air Force and established its first wing of Meteor fighters. He then had periods as station commander of RAF Turnhouse and Duxford, and was air attaché in Paris, before becoming, in June 1967, director of public relations at the MoD. He had been appointed CBE in 1960. He was in the MoD PR post when, in December 1967, the Captain of the Queen’s Flight, Air Commodore John Blount, was killed when a Whirlwind helicopter of the Flight, in which he was travelling, crashed. After handling the press release which announced the disaster, Winskill was appointed to the post in 1968. The burning issue was that of the reliability of the helicopter as a means of conveying the Royal Family, and Winskill’s task was to restore morale in the Flight, much shaken by the crash. The introduction of the reliable Westland Wessex gas turbine-powered helicopter as a replacement for the piston- engined Whirlwind went a long way to accomplishing this, and the Royal Family were soon travelling by helicopter again. Winskill held the post — which combines the offices of courtier and airman — for the next 14 years, and was a great favourite with members of the Royal Family, particularly Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Among his duties was to supervise the 22-year old Prince of Wales, when he made the first parachute jump to be accomplished by an heir to the throne, over the Channel in July 1971. Winskill was appointed CVO in 1973 and KCVO in 1980. In retirement after 1982 Winskill continued to enjoy his golf and tennis with his wife. In 1998, thanks to research by Dilip Sarkar, the farmboy, Félix Caron, who had succoured Winskill in 1941, was located. In May that year the two men met again and strolled over the field where Winskill had hidden from the Germans 57 years before. Winskill married, in 1947, Christiane Bailleux. She and a daughter survive him. A son predeceased him. Air Commodore Sir Archibald Winskill, KCVO, CBE, DFC and Bar, AE, fighter pilot and former Captain of the Queen’s Flight, was born on January 24, 1917. He died on August 9, 2005, aged 88. Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Article Posted in The Telegraph 15/08/2005 Reproduced Here By kind Permission

Air Commodore Sir Archibald Winskill
(Filed: 15/08/2005)

Air Commodore Sir Archibald Winskill, who has died aged 88, flew Spitfires during the Battle of Britain before being shot down over northern France in the summer of 1941; with the aid of members of the French escape lines he evaded capture and returned to England after crossing the Pyrenees into Spain.

Later in his career, as a senior officer, he served as Captain of the Queen's Flight for 14 years.

During the summer of 1941, Winskill was the flight commander of No 41 Squadron, flying Spitfires as part of the Tangmere Wing. He was escorting a formation of Blenheims on August 14 to a target near Lille when two Messerschmitt 109 fighters attacked one of the bombers. He immediately went to its aid and engaged the enemy fighters, shooting one down.

The second scored hits on his Spitfire, which caught fire. He was forced to bale out, landing in a field close to his burning aircraft, and a French farmer immediately ushered him to a cornfield where he hid until nightfall. Eventually, the farmer's son took him to the farmhouse where he was fed.

Archie Winskill spent the next few days in a barn, where the farmer's son visited him with food each day. After two weeks in a "safe house", Winskill - dressed as a farmworker - was passed to various houses by bicycle before being put on a train for Paris. Due to the necessary secrecy, he was not aware that he was being passed down the "Pat" Line, one of the most successful escape lines through occupied France. Two other evaders had joined him, and they were taken first to Marseille and then to Aix le Therme, at the foot of the Pyrenees.

On the night of October 3, they were passed to an Andorran guide who took them over the mountains. After an arduous night-climb, they managed to reach Andorra before travelling to Barcelona, where the British Consul-General arranged to send them to Gibraltar via Madrid. Three months after being shot down, Winskill arrived back in England.

Fifty-seven years later, Winskill returned to France to meet Felix Caron, the boy who had helped him to escape. He described it as "a very emotional moment as we chatted away like long-lost brothers". The Frenchman still had Winskill's flying helmet, discarded by him as he hid in the cornfield.

The son of an early motor car dealer, Archibald Little Winskill was born on January 24 1917 at Penrith, Cumberland, and educated at Penrith and Carlisle Grammar Schools. He was very interested in technical matters and once commented: "I was born with a screwdriver in my mouth, not a silver spoon." Inspired to fly after a five-shilling flight with the Cobham Flying Circus, he joined the RAFVR in April 1937 and trained as a pilot. He was mobilised in September 1939, commissioned in August 1940 and trained to fly Spitfires.

Shortly after joining No 603 Squadron in October 1940, Winskill achieved his first success when he shot down an Me 109 over Dungeness. In November he shared in the destruction of a Heinkel bomber, and on November 23 he shot down two Italian CR 42 fighters. The following January he was appointed flight commander of No 41 Squadron and flew on offensive sweeps and bomber escort sorties over France. Shortly after his return from Gibraltar, he was awarded the DFC.

No longer allowed to fly over France, because of his knowledge of French escape routes, Winskill flew Spitfires in defence of the east Scottish ports. In November 1942 he was promoted to squadron leader and given command of No 232 Squadron, which was preparing to depart for North Africa. He was soon in action providing close support for the British 1st Army in Algeria and Tunisia.

On January 18 1943 he was shot down off the Tunisian coast and was forced to bale out into the sea. He managed to swim ashore behind enemy lines, and walked through the desert to rejoin his squadron. Winskill was one of very few men who evaded capture twice.

In April he shot down a Stuka bomber and shared in the destruction of a second. During May his squadron was primarily engaged in ground-strafing the retreating German army, and he destroyed two aircraft on the airfield at La Sebala. His final success came when he damaged a mammoth six-engine transport aircraft on the ground. His tour ended in June, when he was awarded a Bar to the DFC.

Winskill spent the rest of the war as chief instructor of the Fighting Wing at the Central Gunnery School at Catfoss, Yorkshire, before taking command of the school. He was granted a permanent commission in the RAF and served at the Air Ministry until 1947, when he went to Japan to command No 17 Squadron with the Occupation Forces.

In 1949 he was appointed air adviser to the Belgian Air Force for three years and formed their first Meteor Fighter Wing. As a group captain he commanded RAF Turnhouse before moving to Duxford.

After two years as Group Captain Operations at the Headquarters of RAF Germany, Winskill was promoted to air commodore in 1963 and served as the air attaché in Paris before being appointed the RAF's Director of Public Relations. He had been in the post for 18 months when he had to handle the press release following the crash of a Whirlwind helicopter of the Queen's Flight. Amongst those killed was the Captain of the Flight. On February 15 1968 Winskill was appointed as his replacement.

Winskill had the task of restoring both the morale of the Flight and confidence in the helicopter as a suitable form of transport for the Royal Family. The arrival of the very reliable Wessex as a replacement did restore confidence - within a year members of the Royal Family were using helicopters again. Winskill's arrival also coincided with the introduction of the Andover aircraft.

In 1972 Winskill arranged for the body of the Duke of Windsor to be flown from France to Benson in Oxfordshire, where it lay in state in the station's church.

Winskill was a man of great charm and courtesy. He was a particular favourite of the Queen Mother, who was once heard to say: "It was for men like Sir Archie that made it worthwhile putting on my lipstick." He made annual visits to her summer residence at the Castle of Mey in Caithness. In 2000 he was taken by members of her staff round the island of Stroma in a high-speed rib during rough weather. He commented that it had been "as much fun as flying a Spitfire".

He enjoyed golf, and he and his wife played tennis until recent years; he was still taking long walks and visiting the gymnasium until shortly before his death on August 9. He was also a keen bridge player.

Winskill was appointed CBE in 1960, CVO in 1973 and KCVO in 1980; he was appointed Extra Equerry to the Queen in 1968.

Archie Winskill married, in 1947, Christiane Bailleux, from the Pas de Calais. She survives him with their daughter; a son pre-deceased him.

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