Peter Townsend (RAF officer)
Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend CVO, DSO, DFC was a Royal Air Force officer, flying ace, courtier and author. He was equerry to King George VI from 1944 to 1952 and held the same position for Queen Elizabeth II from 1952 to 1953. Townsend notably had a romance with Princess Margaret, the Queen’s only sibling.
About Peter Townsend (RAF officer) in brief
Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend CVO, DSO, DFC was a Royal Air Force officer, flying ace, courtier and author. He was equerry to King George VI from 1944 to 1952 and held the same position for Queen Elizabeth II from 1952 to 1953. Townsend notably had a romance with Princess Margaret, the Queen’s only sibling. Townsend was born in Rangoon, Burma, to Lieutenant Colonel Edward Copleston Townsend and his wife, Gladys. The Townsend family, of Devon, tended to send its sons into the church or the armed forces. From 1928 to 1932, he was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, then an all-boys independent school. Townsend joined the Royal Air force in 1933 and trained at RAF Cranwell. On graduation, he joined No. 1 Squadron RAF at RAF Tangmere flying the Hawker Fury biplane fighter. In 1936 he was posted to No. 36 Squadron RAF in Singapore, flying the Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bomber.
In 1937 he was promoted to flying officer on 27 January 1937, and returned to Tangmere that year as a member of No. 43 Squadron RAF. On 27 January 1939, he became a flight lieutenant. On 31 August, during combat with Messerschmitt Bf 110s over Tonbridge, Townsend was shot down and wounded in the left foot by a cannon shell. He continued to lead the unit on the ground even after this wound resulted in his big toe being amputated, and he returned to operational flying on 21 September. On 11 July 1940, Acting Squadron Leader Townsend, flying Hurricane VY-K intercepted a Dornier Do 17 of KG 2 and severely damaged the bomber, forcing it to crash land at Arras. He later became commanding officer of RAF Scotland in April 1942 and commanded No 611 Squadron RAF, a Spitfire unit.
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