Presentation Plaque RAF Fighter Wing Bentwaters Woodbridge (Ref# 3826)

 Presentation Plaque RAF Fighter Wing Bentwaters Woodbridge (Ref# 3826)

40cm x 30cm wooden framed plaque marked ‘RAF Bentwaters / Woodbridge England, 81st Tactical Fighter Wing’

Attached is an engraved brass plaque marked ‘ACM Sir Hugh Constantine A Respected Leader and Friend 1977’
More information about Air Chief Marshal Sir H A Constantine KBE, CB, DSO, AOC 5 Group, 1945 - As a Group Captain station commander of RAF Elsham Wolds, 'Connie' Constantine insisted on joining the first 1,000-bomber raid over Cologne in May 1942, an unusual occurrence for an officer of his rank. He was awarded the DSO the same year while commanding Elsham Wolds, and was mentioned in dispatches four times. Born on 23 May 1908, Hugh (Alex) Constantine was educated at Christ's Hospital and the RAF College Cranwell where he excelled at boxing and rugby. He began his RAF career as a fighter pilot but soon moved to Bomber Command where he became a protégé of Bomber Harris. As SASO with 1 Group between 1943 and 1944, Constantine was handpicked by Harris to become Deputy SASO at Bomber Command headquarters, before being appointed to succeed Sir Ralph Cochrane as AOC 5 Group in January 1945. During his time with 5 Group, Constantine worked closely with the scientist Barnes Wallis of bouncing bomb fame, also winning praise from General Montgomery for the accurate bombing carried out by his squadrons in support of the Allied crossing of the Rhine in March 1945. After the war he became Deputy Chief of Staff at SHAPE in Paris and later C-in-C Flying Training command before retirement in 1964. For the next thirteen years, he continued to work part-time at the Ministry of Defence as coordinator of Anglo-American community relations. He died on 16 April 1992, aged eighty-three