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Christopher J.H. Riddle

Name : Christopher J.H. Riddle Died : 8th August 2009 Air Victories : 2.00

Christopher John Henry Riddle, known throughout his life as Jack, was born in Buckinghamshire on 4th April 1914. He attended Harrow School from 1928 to 1931. He joined 601 Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force in early 1938 and was called to full-time service in October 1939. When 601 was formed in the early Thirties as part of the bolstering of Britains air defences its founder, Lord Edward Grosvenor, stipulated that all the pilots should be members of the London club Whites (as he was). With war looming this tradition could not be allowed to inhibit the induction of suitable candidates but Jack did have to run the gauntlet of dinner with Sir Philip Sassoon, who held a senior position in the Air Ministry and was Honorary head of 601. Presumably he reported favourably on Jack. In the early stages of the Battle of Britain, 601 were required to mount early-morning standing patrols over convoys in the Channel. If there was no enemy activity these could be extremely tedious. As the time approached for the patrol to return to Tangmere each pilot would radio in turn his requirements for breakfast - egg, sausage, bacon....etc etc.... This practice came to the attention of a senior officer who forbade this frivolous use of official channels. Jack said that it was rumoured that Churchill had heard of this for permission to continue the habit arrived, this supposedly gave German eavesdroppers the impression that our airmen were well fed and ready to do battle. Over Dunkirk, on 27th May 1940, Riddle probably destroyed a Me110. He shared a Me110 on 11th July and a Do17 on 4th September. In January 1941 Riddle was posted to HQ 10 Group as a Sector Controller. Later in the war he was in the Far East at HQ Air Command South East Asia, in Ceylon and later Singapore. Riddle was released from the RAF in 1946 as a Squadron Leader. He was later with an international trading group and his main work was buying Baltic timber for the Australian market. Riddle later had his own textile company. Jack Riddle passed away on 8th August 2009, aged 95.

COMBAT REPORTS

F/O C.J.H.Riddle scored one kill before and one kill after joining No 601 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. He was the younger brother of H.J.Riddle they were promoted to Squadron Leader on the same date, the 1st of December 1941.

Known Service Details :
Squadron	Rank	Start of Service	End of Service	Known Dates	Aircraft	Airframes	Notes
No.601 Sqn RAF	Squadron Leader	unknown	unknown	01st December 1941

Artwork signed by this Pilot or Aircrew

Glorious Summer by Robert Taylor. (B)

Squadrons for : Christopher J.H. Riddle
A list of all squadrons known to have been served with by Christopher J.H. Riddle. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name.
Squadron	Info
No.601 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 14th October 1925 Fate : Disbanded 10th March 1957 County of London (Auxiliary) Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of No.601 Sqn RAF	No.601 Sqn RAF Full profile not yet available.

Last edited : 16:33, December 23, 2012
Last editor : DataStream

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