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Peter Townsend (Group Captain)

Peter Townsend
Royal Air Force Fighter Command, 1939-1945. CH89.jpg
Flight Lieutenant Townsend (left) with Flight Lieutenant Caesar Hull in 1940
Birth name Peter Wooldridge Townsend
Born (1914-11-22)22 November 1914
Rangoon, Burma, British Raj
(now Yangon, Myanmar)
Died 19 June 1995(1995-06-19) (aged 80)
Saint-Leger-en-Yvelines, France
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  Royal Air Force
Years of service 1933–1956
Rank Group Captain
Commands held RAF West Malling (1943–44)
No. 605 Squadron RAF (1942)
RAF Drew (1942)
No. 85 Squadron RAF (1940–41)
Battles/wars

Second World War

Awards Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Flying Cross & Bar
Spouse(s) Rosemary Pawle (1941–52)
Marie-Luce Jamagne (1959–95)

Second World War

Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend, CVO, DSO, DFC & Bar (22 November 1914 – 19 June 1995) was a British Royal Air Force officer, flying ace, courtier and author. He was Equerry to King George VI 1944–1952 and held the same position for Queen Elizabeth II 1952–1953. Townsend also had a romance with Princess Margaret.

Townsend was born on 22 November 1914 in Rangoon, Burma, to Lieutenant Colonel E. C. Townsend. From 1928 to 1932, he was educated at Haileybury College, then an all-boys independent school.

Townsend joined the Royal Air Force in 1933 and trained at RAF Cranwell. He was commissioned a pilot officer on 27 July 1935. 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. He was promoted to flying officer on 27 January 1937, and returned to Tangmere that year as a member of No. 43 Squadron RAF. Townsend was promoted to flight lieutenant on 27 January 1939.


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