Sir Peter Le Cheminant DFC & Bar, GBE, KCB

"Sir Peter Le Cheminant was a Second World War pilot, who survived scores of hazardous bombing raids across Europe, North Africa, Italy and Sicily for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and, after myriad postings and promotions within the RAF, went on to become the first native in over 600 years to hold the post of Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey, serving as the Queen’s representative on the island. Upon retiring from the RAF in 1979, he had flown 73 types of aircraft, including biplane trainers, heavy bombers, seaplanes and helicopters; he even flew with the Red Arrows. Not one to dwell on the past, he enjoyed life and seized every opportunity, eventually rising to become Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff and then Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Central Europe, where he ensured that the fighting elements in the Central Region of Nato had the appropriate directives, reinforcements and logistical support.
time some zing. Sponsored by Tenderstem® He was a prolific writer, winning several prizes in service-sponsored competitions as well as two gold medals for essays on military subjects from the Royal United Services Institute. He showed his humorous side with two comic novels under the pseudonym Desmond Walker about a bungled government plot to make the Channel Islands part of Hampshire. Born in Guernsey in 1920, Peter de Lacey Le Cheminant was the son of a schoolmaster and a housewife. His mother left when he was eight. Educated at Elizabeth College in St Peter Port, where his father taught and ran the Officer Training Corps, Le Cheminant excelled at shooting and was part of a British public schools team that competed against Canada in 1937. He enjoyed shooting throughout his life. Soon after leaving school, and against his father’s wishes, he enrolled at RAF College Cranwell, Lincolnshire, graduating in December 1939 shortly after the outbreak of war, having survived a mid-air collision during training that killed three pilots in the other aircraft. He joined No.4 Squadron flying Lysanders and was soon flying sorties supporting the British Expeditionary Force in France until Dunkirk. Thereafter, he spent two years with 614 Squadron flying anti-invasion patrols along the coast. In May 1942, he flew in support of two of the three “Thousand Bomber” night raids on Essen and Cologne by attacking the German fighter base at Twente in Holland."
www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/sir-peter-le-cheminant-fighter-pilot-and-lieutenant-governor-of-guernsey-and-author-1-4735839