Richard Peck

Air Marshal Sir Richard Hallam Peck (2 March 1893 – 12 September 1952) was a British officer in the Royal Air Force, who served in the First and Second World Wars.

Biography Peck was born in West Derby, Liverpool, and educated at St Paul's School, London and Brasenose College, Oxford. In the First World War he served in France with No 12 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. In 1919 he was commissioned as a Major. After the war he became a flight instructor and was stationed at RAF Iraq Command in 1922 and RAF Station Shaibah in 1924. and was often quoted in newspapers as an anonymous Air Ministry spokesman.

In 1940 Peck ensured the RAF ordered 50 de Havilland Mosquitos for reconnaissance. This was planned to be one of the fastest aircraft of its time, but there had been disagreements about its purpose and it was almost cancelled.

Peck was promoted to Air Marshal in 1942. He retired in 1946. He was a Governor of the BBC from 1946 to 1949, vice-chairman of the National Savings Committee in 1947, and he became president of the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) in 1949. He died in Switzerland from a heart attack aged 59. Richard Peck House, a RAFA rest home, was named after him.

Publications Wing Commander R.H. Peck: "Aircraft in Small Wars (lecture)". Journal of the Royal United Services Institution, 73 (1928), pp. 535–50.