Page 166 - They Also Served

the medical, so entered Sandhurst and was commissioned into the East Lancashire Regiment in 1924.
Still wanting to fly, he secured an attachment to the RAF, where he proved to be a natural pilot and was allowed to transfer in 1929. Commanding No.85 Squadron at the start of the war, he was station commander at RAF Castletown, providing the air defence of Scapa Flow. Deciding to pay a visit to an aircraft carrier, he executed a perfect deck landing, then promptly taxied the aircraft into an empty lift shaft. In early 1941, he took over No.25 Squadron and, flying the Bristol Beaufighter night fighter, scored three aerial victories. Severely injured in a crash in September 1941, which broke his back, he continued flying, which necessitated six ground crew to hoist him into his aircraft. During this time, he was the subject of one of a hundred portraits of pilots painted by Eric Kennington for the Ministry of Information.
Promoted to group captain, he became station commander at RAF Fairwood Common (now Swansea Airport) in 1942. On 23rd June, Oberleutnant Armin Faber, having become disorientated in a dogfight and mistaking the Bristol Channel for the English Channel, landed his brand-new Focke-Wulf FW-190 at nearby RAF Pembrey. As the station was a training establishment, a quick-thinking officer jumped onto the wing and used the only weapon available, a flare gun, to capture the pilot. Atcherley was tasked with escorting the now-suicidal Faber for questioning and kept his revolver trained on his captive for the whole journey. At one point, the car went over a bump and the gun fired, narrowly missing Faber.
After commanding night fighters in the Middle East, he finished the war on the staff of Air Marshal Sir Basil Embry. They often flew on operations together with Embry filing the flight plan as ‘Wing Commander Smith’. On one occasion, Atcherley sported a cast on an arm broken in mess games the night before. Awarded the DSO, part of the citation stated: ‘He is a fearless leader, whose iron determination and unswerving devotion to duty have inspired all under his command’.
Atcherley was promoted to air commodore in 1947 and air vice-marshal in July 1950 to command 205 Group in the Middle East. However, on 8th June 1952, he took off from Eqypt in a Gloster Meteor for the 40-minute flight to Cyprus. After he failed to arrive, a huge air-sea search took place, but no trace of the aircraft or Air Vice-Marshal David Atcherley CB CBE DSO DFC was found.
160