Page 173 - They Also Served

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Loel Guinness 1926.
Thomas Loel Evelyn Bulkeley Guinness was born in
Manhattan, New York, on 9th June 1906. A member of
the Guinness brewing and banking family, he was trained at
Sandhurst and commissioned into the Irish Guards on 30th
August 1926. Resigning his commission on 10th August 1927, he returned to New York for a while, driving a tram to keep himself occupied.
Back in the UK, he learned to fly and, in 1929, became one of the first private citizens in the country to own an aeroplane. Joining the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, he served with No.601 (County of London) Squadron. Formed by Lord Edward Grosvenor in 1925 and known as ‘the millionaire’s squadron’, the pilots were hand-picked by the commanding officer, a ritual that involved copious quantities of alcohol. Owning a sports car and a motorcycle were de-rigueur, the latter being used for games of motorised polo.
In the 1931 general election, Guinness stood successfully as a Conservative candidate for Bath. The sitting MP, Charles Baillie-Hamilton, had been deselected by the local party for his poor record of both voting in the Commons and visiting his constituency. During the 1930s, Guinness was also president of Airwork Ltd, a company that not only maintained some RAF aircraft but provided pilot training in one of the earliest examples of what we now call private finance initiatives (PFIs). Airwork pilot training continued throughout the war and made a major contribution to the overall Allied victory. Concurrently, Guinness was also parliamentary private secretary to the under- secretary for air, a situation that may be considered a conflict of interest today!
Promoted to squadron leader, Guinness commanded No.601 Squadron from December 1939 to June 1940 during the Battle of France. As petrol rationing bit during the Battle of Britain, he bought a nearby garage to ensure an adequate supply for his pilots’ cars. Later in the war, he commanded a wing in the 2nd Tactical Air Force in support of Allied forces after the D-Day landings.
Ending the war as a group captain, Guinness was awarded the OBE and was MiD no less than five times as well as being decorated by the French and Dutch governments. Throughout the war he remained a serving MP, only standing down at the 1945 election. Retiring from the RAF Reserve in 1954, Loel Guinness died in Houston, Texas, on 31st December 1988 and is buried in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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