Thomas Pike
| Sir Thomas Geoffrey Pike | |
|---|---|
Sir Thomas Pike (right) with the Luftwaffe General Josef Kammhuber in 1956.
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| Born |
29 June 1906 Lewisham, London |
| Died | 1 June 1983 (aged 76) |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | 1924–1967 |
| Rank | Marshal of the Royal Air Force |
| Commands held |
Chief of the Air Staff (1960–63) RAF Fighter Command (1956–59) No. 11 Group (1950–51) Officers' Advanced Training School (1945–46) No. 1 Mobile Operations Room Unit (1943–44) RAF North Weald (1942) No. 219 Squadron (1941) |
| Battles/wars | Second World War |
| Awards |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Flying Cross & Bar Mentioned in Despatches Officer of the Legion of Merit (United States) |
| Relations | Lieutenant General Sir William Pike (brother) Lieutenant General Sir Hew Pike (nephew) |
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Thomas Geoffrey Pike, GCB, CBE, DFC & Bar, DL (29 June 1906 – 1 June 1983) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served in the Second World War as a night fighter squadron commander and then as a station commander. He was Chief of the Air Staff in the early 1960s and, in that role, deployed British air power as part of the British response to the Brunei Revolt. Also, in the face of escalating costs, he implemented the cancellation of the British Blue Streak ballistic missile system but then found the RAF was without any such capability when the Americans cancelled their own Skybolt ballistic missile system. He went on to be Deputy Supreme Commander Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in the mid-1960s.
Born the son of Captain Sydney Royston Pike and Sarah Elizabeth Pike (née Huddleston), Pike was educated at Bedford School between 1915 and 1923 before joining the Royal Air Force as a flight cadet on 17 January 1924. On successfully passing through the Royal Air Force College Cranwell, he was commissioned as a pilot officer on 16 December 1925 and immediately posted to No. 56 Squadron at RAF Biggin Hill where he flew Gloster Grebes and then Armstrong Whitworth Siskins. Promoted to flying officer on 16 June 1927, he attended the instructors' course at the Central Flying School in Autumn 1928 and then became an instructor first with No. 5 Flying Training School at RAF Sealand and then, from May 1929, at the Central Flying School, where he was a member of the aerobatic team. Promoted to flight lieutenant on 9 July 1930, Pike attended the Long Aircraft Engineering Course at the Home Aircraft Depot at RAF Henlow from August 1930 and then joined the engineering Staff at the RAF Depot in the Middle East in October 1932. He became an instructor at No. 4 Flying Training School at RAF Abu Suwayr in November 1934 and, after attending the RAF Staff College from January 1937, he was promoted to squadron leader on 1 February 1937. He was posted to No. 10 Flying Training School at RAF Ternhill as Chief Flying Instructor in January 1938 and then became a staff officer in the Deputy Directorate of Peace Organisation within the Air Ministry in February 1939.
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