John Nicholls

Air Marshal Sir John Moreton Nicholls, (5 July 1926 – 17 May 2007) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. He had been a pilot at the end of the Second World War and also served with the United States Air Force in the Korean War.

Early life Nicholls was educated at the Liverpool Collegiate School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

Career Nicholls joined the Royal Air Force in June 1945 and served as a pilot during the later stages of the Second World War. During the Korean War he was seconded to the United States Air Force where he saw active service as a pilot and shot down a MiG 15. In 1959 he was seconded to English Electric to test fly the new supersonic Lightning. and Vice Chief of the Air Staff in 1979 before retiring in 1980. In the 1970 Birthday Honours he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1978 Birthday Honours.

Family In 1946, Nicholls married Enid Rose; they had two daughters. Following the death of his first wife, he married Sheelagh Hall in 1977.