View source for Neville Ramsbottom-Isherwood

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Henry Neville Gynes Ramsbottom-Isherwood
|image=
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption=
|birth_date= {{birth date|1905|7|13|df=yes}}
|death_date= {{death date and age|1950|4|24|1905|7|13|df=yes}}
|birth_place=[[Petone]], [[Wellington]], [[New Zealand]]
|death_place= [[Tonbridge]], [[Kent]]
|placeofburial=
|nickname="Ish"
|allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}}
|branch= {{air force|United Kingdom}}
|serviceyears= 1924–50
|rank= [[Wing Commander (rank)|Wing Commander]]
|servicenumber= 29116
|unit= [[No. 54 Squadron RAF]]<br />[[No. 35 Squadron RAF]]<br />[[Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment]]<br />[[No. 9 Group RAF]]
|commands= [[No. 151 Wing RAF]]<br />[[RAF Church Stanton]]<br />[[RAF Valley]]<br />[[RAF Woodvale]]<br />[[No. 342 Wing RAF]]<br />[[RAF West Malling]]
|battles= [[Second World War]]
|awards= [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Flying Cross]]<br />[[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]]<br />[[Order of Lenin]] ([[USSR]])
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}

[[Wing commander (rank)|Wing Commander]] '''Henry Neville Gynes Ramsbottom-Isherwood'''  {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DFC|AFC}} (13 July 1905 –  24 April 1950) was a [[New Zealand]] born [[Royal Air Force]] [[test pilot]] and commanding officer during the [[Second World War]] and the [[post-war]] period. He was one of only four wartime [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] recipients of the [[Order of Lenin]], after he had led an RAF fighter [[Wing (military aviation unit)|wing]] to help defend northern [[Russia]] and introduce British aircraft to [[Soviet Air Force]] personnel. He was killed in a flying accident in 1950.

==Early career==
Born on 13 July 1905 at [[Petone]] near [[Wellington]] in New Zealand, he was the son of Henry Lionel Ramsbottom-Isherwood and Lilian Catherine ''née'' Kelly. He was educated at St Patrick's College and St Joseph's College, Geelong, Sydney.<ref name="obit">E. J. B. "Group Captain Ramsbottom Isherwood." Times [London, England] 27 Apr. 1950: 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.</ref> Commissioned into the [[New Zealand Rifles]] as a [[Second Lieutenant]] in 1924, Isherwood emigrated to the [[United Kingdom]] to train as a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Qualifying as a [[Pilot Officer]] in July 1930, he saw service in [[British Raj|India]] and Britain before joining the staff of the [[Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment]] at [[RAF Martlesham Heath]] as a test pilot in the Armament Testing Section.<ref name="obit" /><ref name ="_Tracesofwar.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/41470 |title=Ramsbottom-Isherwood, Henry Neville Gynes |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=[[TracesOfWar.com]] |publisher=Stichting Informatie Wereldoorlog Twee |access-date=27 March 2015}}</ref>

==Second World War==
[[File:No. 151 Wing Royal Air Force Operations in Russia, September-november 1941 CR96.jpg|thumb|right|A Hawker Hurricane of No. 81 Squadron RAF at Vaenga in late 1941.]]
In the [[1940 Birthday Honours (New Zealand)|1940 King's Birthday Honours]], Isherwood was awarded the [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34893 |date=9 July 1940 |page=4269 |supp=y}}</ref> In January 1941 Isherwood was posted to Fighter Command and was given command of a sector in [[No. 9 Group RAF|No. 9 Group]] and later served as a controller at the group headquarters.<ref name="obit" /><ref name ="_Tracesofwar.com"/> In August 1941 Isherwood was selected to command [[No. 151 Wing RAF|No. 151 Wing]], which was being formed for a mission codenamed [[Operation Benedict]], which was planned in the aftermath of [[Operation Barbarossa]], the German invasion of the [[Soviet Union]]. The aim of Operation Benedict was to take two squadrons of [[Hawker Hurricane]] Mk IID fighters to defend the naval port of [[Murmansk]] in northern Russia and to train the Soviet Air Force to operate the aircraft, which would be the first of more than two thousand to be supplied.<ref>Carter, Eric and Loveless, Antony (2014) ''Force Benedict'', Hodder & Stoughton {{ISBN|978-1-44478514-2}} (p. 69)</ref> Arriving on the first [[Arctic convoy]] at the beginning of September 1941, the wing established itself at an airfield at Vaenga (renamed [[Severomorsk]] in 1951). Besides training the Soviet pilots and ground crews, the wing claimed 15 enemy aircraft destroyed plus four "probables" and seven damaged, for the loss of one Hurricane in combat. None of the Soviet bombers that they escorted were lost.<ref>Carter pp. 213, 219</ref> At the end of October, when the wing had handed their last aircraft to the Soviets, they were ordered by the [[Air Ministry]] in London to travel south by rail through the Soviet Union for further service in the Middle East theatre. Isherwood compiled a lengthy signal stating that the journey was likely to take three months, that no rations or winter clothing were available and that there was a considerable danger of being overrun by the advancing Germans. The order was rescinded and the wing was evacuated by sea.<ref>Carter pp. 217–221</ref> He was awarded the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] for his service during the operation as well as the Order of Lenin.<ref>Carter pp. 250, 258</ref>

Returning to Britain, Isherwood took command of a series of air bases.<ref name ="_Tracesofwar.com"/> He was intended to command No. 153 Wing, a much larger fighter force which was due to be sent to Russia in late 1942 but the plan, Operation Jupiter, was abandoned, perhaps because of the heavy losses to the Arctic convoys.<ref>Carter pp. 266–267</ref> In 1944, he took command of No. 342 Wing in [[Burma Campaign|Burma]].<ref name ="_Tracesofwar.com"/>

==Post war==
Returning from southeast Asia in 1947, Isherwood became Commanding Officer of [[RAF West Malling]]. On 24 April 1950, he took a [[Gloster Meteor]] IV jet fighter for a test flight but ran into a severe snowstorm, crashed near [[Tonbridge]] and was killed.<ref>Carter p. 258</ref> A military funeral was held on 29 April 1950 at St Felix church in Felixstowe.<ref>"Deaths." Times [London, England] 26 Apr. 1950: 1. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.</ref>

In 2009, Isherwood's medals were put up for auction at [[Sotheby's]] by his only daughter. They were bought by an anonymous Russian bidder for £46,000.<ref>Carter pp. 258–260</ref> The sale aroused considerable interest in New Zealand where his nephew conducted an unsuccessful campaign to acquire the medals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10576930 |title=A Kiwi hero's World War II medals on sale |last1=Shepheard |first1=Nicola |date=7 June 2009 |website= |publisher=APN New Zealand Limited |access-date=27 March 2015}}</ref> A television [[documentary]] about Isherwood called ''Operation Hurricane'' was made by [[Prime (New Zealand)|Prime TV]] in New Zealand in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://russianfilm.biz/2012/04/ww2-operation-hurricane-extraordinary-story/ |title=WW2 Operation Hurricane: Extraordinary Story |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date=30 April 2012 |website=russianfilm.biz |publisher= |access-date=27 March 2015}}</ref>

==Family life==
Isherwood married Betty Ailsa Taylor in 1938 at Deben in Suffolk.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/ART26129/ Portrait of Wing Commander Gynes Ramsbottom-Isherwood] by [[Colin Colahan]] at the [[Australian War Memorial]].
* [http://www.britishpathe.com/video/soviet-honours-british-airmen/query/Order+of+Lenin ''Soviet Honours British Airmen''], [[British Pathé]] newsreel showing medals being presented at the Soviet Embassy in London, 1942.
* [http://www.mortonandeden.com/pdfcats/38web.pdf Morton & Eden Ltd Sale Catalogue of 10 June 2009]: Isherwood's medals are shown on page 66.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsbottom-Isherwood, Neville}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England]]
[[Category:New Zealand recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:New Zealand test pilots]]
[[Category:New Zealand World War II pilots]]
[[Category:People from Petone]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force wing commanders]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1950]]
[[Category:Victims of flight test accidents]]