Leonard E. H. Williams (Nationwide)
| Leonard E. H. Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Leonard Edmund Henry Williams 6 December 1919 Acton, London, England |
| Died | 9 June 2007 (aged 87) England |
Leonard Edmund Henry Williams, CBE, DFC (6 December 1919 – 9 June 2007) was the former chief of the Nationwide building society, also known for his career as a Spitfire pilot in the RAF.
He was born in Acton, London to a labourer and a cook. He won a scholarship to Acton County Grammar, leaving at 16 to train as an accountant at Acton Borough Council. On the outbreak of World War II he joined the RAF and was trained as a mechanic. After a time servicing Westland Wapiti biplanes in India, he was selected for pilot training. Posted to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Leading Aircraftman Williams became involved in the wider British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and joined the Initial Training Wing at Hillside, a suburb of Bulawayo. Basic flying training took place at Induna and advanced flying training at Thornhill.
On 14 August 1943 Williams was commissioned into the RAFVR as a Pilot Officer and sent to the Middle East where he gained experience of single-seat fighter aircraft. On 25 February 1944 he was posted to 225 Squadron, at the time based at Lago airfield, 30 miles north of Naples, and equipped with Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V fighters. P/O Williams flew his first operational sortie spotting for Allied artillery firing on a bridge at Ausonia, Lazio on 8 April 1944. Promoted to the rank of Flying Officer he flew with 225 Squadron all through the year 1944 from a number of airstrips in Italy, Corsica and Southern France. On 23 October that year he took off from Peretola with Flying Officer Stanley Waldman (brother of TV producer Ronnie Waldman) as wingman, to carry out a tactical reconnaissance to the Bologna-Ferrara-Cento-San Giovanni in Persiceto area. What happened on that mission was later narrated by Williams himself:
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