The great Roland Beamont was talking about a man he encountered as RAF Duxford’s station commander in 1942: John Grandy, who went on to achieve the service’s highest rank. The time he spent trying to ease the Hawker Typhoon’s growing pains, and the effect they had on the men under his leadership, showed his suitability for such seniority
Duxford, 17 September 1989. The year’s main Imperial War Museum flying display, and a distinguished guest was awaited. Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Grandy, former boss of the service’s most successful Battle of Britain squadron, commanderin-chief of RAF Germany, Bomber Command and Far East Command, Chief of the Air Staff, Governor of Gibraltar and of Windsor Castle —to name but a few appointments —was approaching the end of his 11-year tenure as chairman of the IWM’s trustees. Where better to mark the occasion than the airfield at which he had served as station commander in 1942-43, a time of great transition and upheaval? Alas, the weather on the day was appalling. No way would the HS125 carrying Grandy be able to land, and sure enough it couldn’t. The show went ahead without its most honoured visitor, but he would be back.
Even without his wartime backgr…
