Lewis Hodges

Air Chief Marshal Sir Lewis Macdonald Hodges, (1 March 1918 – 4 January 2007) was a pilot for Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the Second World War, and later achieved high command in the Royal Air Force and NATO.

Early life Hodges was born in Richmond in Surrey, England. He was educated at St Paul's School in Barnes and joined the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1937.

War service Known as "Bob" Hodges, he was commissioned into the RAF as a pilot officer in December 1938, joining Bomber Command and flying Vickers Wellesleys with No. 78 Squadron at RAF Finningley, and then moving to fly Handley Page Hampdens with No. 49 Squadron in 1940. On 4 September 1940, his aircraft was damaged in an air raid on Stettin, and he crash-landed in Brittany. He was also awarded the French Croix de guerre.

He attended the RAF Staff College in 1944, and served with the Bomber Command operations staff. for his services in the Far East.

Post-war After the war, he joined the RAF Staff College in Haifa in 1945, and then the Joint Services Staff College at Latimer in 1947, became a group captain in 1957, and advanced to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1958. He was Assistant Commandant of the RAF College in Cranwell from 1959 to 1961, and became an air commodore in 1961. He attended the Imperial Defence College in 1963, was promoted to air vice marshal, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and then served at SHAPE headquarters. After serving as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Operations) from 1965, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Air Support Command from 1968 and Air Member for Personnel from 1970, he was promoted to air chief marshal in 1971. He was survived by his wife, Elisabeth Blackett. They were married in 1950, and had two sons together.