Oldest RAF ex-officer dies aged 105
Oldest RAF ex-officer dies aged 105
24 April 2012 | UK
http://www.bfbs.com/news/sites/ssvc....ex-officer.jpg
Britain’s oldest former RAF officer who helped keep the country’s fighters and bombers flying during World War Two has died aged 105.
In the earliest days of the air force, when the Royal Flying Corps became the Royal Air Force, Frank Bagshaw joined up aged 19.
It was 1925 and he would serve for the next 38 years, starting at the lowest rank as a rigger and carpenter, rising to Warrant Officer and Flight Lieutenant.
He served in Palestine, Greece, Egypt, India, Malta and South Africa and was awarded many service medals and even an OBE.
After the Second World War, he served in Korea in the 1950s until the conflict ended with the division of the country into North and South Korea.
Throughout his time in the RAF he was a keen sportsman, with cross-country running, fencing and shooting, where he was one of the top 100 shots in the UK, his favourites. He left the RAF in 1963.
Last year he celebrated his 105th birthday and he received a special visit from Squadron Leader Andy Scott from RAF Linton-on-Ouse, a former commanding officer of 207 Squadron in which Mr Bagshaw served.
He was presented with a framed print of an aircraft signed by personnel who served on 207 Squadron, engraved with the words ‘105 years of Flight Lieutenant Frank Bagshaw’.
His funeral will take place at 1pm on Friday (April 27) at Grove Methodist Church in Horsforth.
PICTURE: Courtesy RAF - Sqn Ldr Andy Scott and Flt Lt Frank Bagshaw with painting
http://www.bfbs.com/news/uk/oldest-r...105-56723.html
