Gp Capt Caryl Gordon
RAF instructor who helped the Duke of Edinburgh get his wings
GROUP CAPTAIN CARYL GORDON, who has died aged 94, was an RAF flying instructor who taught the Duke of Edinburgh to fly.
Gordon was instructing at the Central Flying
School when he moved to White Waltham to join the Queen’s Flight, which had been allocated two Chipmunk and two Harvard training aircraft for the Duke’s training. After a few hours, the Duke flew solo on the Chipmunk on December 20 1952. The Chief of the Air Staff, Marshal of the RAF Sir William Dickson presented him with his wings on May 8 1953.
Gordon remained the Duke’s personal instructor for the next two years, which included flying twin-engined training aircraft before the Duke took delivery of a de Havilland Heron as his personal aircraft. At the end of 1955, when Gordon left his royal appointment he was appointed MVO, later upgraded to LVO.
The son of a former Indian Army cavalry officer, Caryl Ramsay Gordon was born at Cheltenham on July 9 1923. He was educated at Cheltenham College and joined the RAF in December 1942.
After completing his training in Canada, he returned to England in early 1945 to discover that there was a surplus of pilots. He was trained to tow gliders, but was too late to take part in the last major airborne operation, the Rhine crossing, and he became a second pilot on the Stirling and Halifax with No 51 Squadron. The four-engine bomber had been converted to carry troops and Gordon flew many long-distance trooping flights to the Middle East and to India.
He trained as a flying instructor at the Central Flying School (CFS) before spending two years as the personal staff officer to the Air Officer Commanding No 23 (Training) Group. After a year training pilots at the RAF College Cranwell, he returned in March 1951 to CFS as an instructor on the Meteor jet.
He became the leader of the “Meteorites”, the school’s aerobatic team. Among the manoeuvres he perfected was a unique looping sequence during which he flew inverted while the other members, in close formation, completed the loop in the normal manner. A photograph of the formation was used for their Christmas card. During his time at CFS, Gordon was twice awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air.
Upon leaving his royal duties, Gordon returned to operational flying as a night fighter pilot and flight commander on No 33 Squadron equipped with the Venom. After a period at the RAF Staff College and then in Germany, he converted to the delta-wing Javelin and returned to command No 33 Squadron. A few months later he moved to RAF Geilenkirchen in Germany in command of another Javelin squadron, No 5 Squadron.
As a group captain he served at HQ Strike Command before being appointed in 1971 as the Air Attaché in Argentina, with additional responsibility for Uruguay and Paraguay, carrying out his duties in fluent Spanish.
He returned to Britain in December 1973 and his last appointment before retiring was at the RAF College Cranwell.
For two years Gordon worked for the security services and lived in Balcombe Street, Marylebone. On December 6 1975 members of the IRA took over the flat next door with hostages before a six-day stand off with the Metropolitan Police using Gordon’s flat. At the end of the siege it was redecorated at no cost to him.
Gordon was a member of Foston Fishing Club from 1964 and rode with the Holderness, where he was hunt secretary from 1983 to 1991. He especially enjoyed driving his Jaguar XK 140.
Caryl Gordon married his wife Gill in August 1958. She and their son and daughter survive him.
Caryl Gordon, July 9 1923, died March 27 2018