Wilfrid Oulton

Air Vice-Marshal Wilfrid Ewart Oulton, (27 July 1911 – 31 October 1997) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. During the Second World War he was credited with sinking three German U-boats—, , and —in one month while serving in RAF Coastal Command. He was in charge of the British nuclear tests of hydrogen bombs in the Pacific Ocean in Operation Grapple in 1957.

Early life Wilfrid Ewart Oulton was born in Monks Coppenhall, Cheshire, on 27 July 1911, the first of eight children of Llewellin Oulton, a schoolteacher. His mother, Martha Wellings, died when he was young, and his father remarried. He was educated at Abertillery County School, where his father was the chemistry teacher. He was awarded a scholarship to University College, Cardiff, where he studied engineering, but in 1929 he entered the Royal Air Force College Cranwell. He represented the RAF College at boxing and was awarded the Abdy Gerrard Fellowes Memorial Prize.

Oulton graduated at the top of his class, and was commissioned as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force on 25 July 1931. He trained as a pilot at No. 3 Flying Training School, and then as a flying boat pilot at RAF Calshot. On 4 April 1932 he was posted to No. 204 Squadron at RAF Mount Batten, where he flew Supermarine Southampton and Supermarine Scapa flying boats. He was posted to No. 202 Squadron in Malta on 19 August 1932; he was promoted to flying officer on 25 January 1933. He joined the staff of RAF Hal Far on 29 November 1933, and married Sarah (Terry) Davies in Malta in 1935. Oulton was promoted to wing commander on 1 March 1941,

In October 1943, Oulton became commander of RAF Lajes, a newly established base in the Portuguese Azores. From this base, No. 206 Squadron RAF and No. 220 Squadron RAF covered part of the Mid-Atlantic gap with their Flying Fortress bombers. For this service, he was made a companion of the Distinguished Service Order on 12 November 1943. He was promoted to group captain on 1 January 1944, In March 1945, Oulton was appointed deputy director of maritime operations in Northern Ireland. At the end of the war he was deputy director of flying (air traffic) control, and established the air traffic control arrangements for the new airport at Heathrow Airport. He was mentioned in despatches a third time on 8 June 1945.

Postwar In 1946, Oulton became the director of the Joint Anti-Submarine School at RAF Ballykelly in Northern Ireland. On 1 October that year, he reverted to his permanent rank of wing commander. He joined the faculty of the Joint Services Staff College in 1948, and was promoted to group captain again on 1 January 1949. This was followed by a posting to South America as air attaché to Argentina in 1950. He attended the Imperial Defence College in 1954, and joined the directorate of staff training before becoming director of operations. He was promoted to air commodore on 1 January 1955. Christmas Island was chosen as a base. It was claimed by both Britain and the United States, but the Americans were willing to let the British use it for the tests. Oulton's wartime experience establishing a base in the Azores was useful in developing one in the Pacific Ocean. and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1958 New Year Honours. His final posting was on 21 April 1958, as Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters Coastal Command at RAF Northwood. He retired from the RAF at his own request on 1 January 1961.

Later life Oulton joined the board of EMI Electronics, where he oversaw the company's military programmes, and forged a business partnership with Hughes Electronics in the United States. He was an honorary fellow of Cardiff University, and a fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and of the Institute of Electronic and Radio Engineers. He was a member of the Royal Institute of Navigation Council from 1962 to 1965, and was its Vice President in 1965. He wrote two books, Christmas Island Cracker (1987), about his experiences in Operation Grapple, and Technocrat (1995), a biography of the American nuclear scientist Allen Crocker. His wife Sarah died in 1990, and the following year he married Leticia Malcolm. He died of bladder cancer and prostate cancer at Lymington, Hampshire, on 31 October 1997. His remains were cremated, and his ashes scattered over the Bay of Biscay by an aircraft of No. 206 Squadron.

Publications Oulton, Wilfrid (1987). Christmas Island Cracker: an Account of the Planning and Execution of the British Thermonuclear Bomb Tests. London: Thomas Harmsworth Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-948807-04-6.