Air Commodore Richard Kellet's Obituary
Title
Air Commodore Richard Kellet's Obituary
Description
An obituary published in the Times with a second cutting with a correction from an air vice-marshal.
Date
1990-01-20
Spatial Coverage
Language
Type
Format
Two newspaper cuttings
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
NKellettR191219-010001, NKellettR191219-010002
Transcription
THE TIMES SATURDAY JANUARY 20 1990
OBITUARIES
AIR COMMODORE RICHARD KELLETT
Breaking a long distance flying record
[photograph]
Air Commodore Richard Kellett, CBE, DFC, AFC, who has died at the age of 84, was a distinguished airman, who made his mark both before and during the last war. He has his niche in the history of aviation for the record-breaking non-stop flight he made in 1938, piloting a Vickers Wellesley bomber from Ismailia in Egypt to Darwin in Australia. This distance of 7,158 miles was covered between November 5 and November 7, 1938, and involved the aircraft in just over 48 hours flying time.
In the following year, flying the Vickers Wellington which succeeded the Wellesley, Kellett took part in some of the early bombing raids of the war which were directed against German shipping.
Kellet’s career was full of incident. The son of a senior naval surgeon he nevertheless opted for the RAF, the novel mechanical aspects of flying having an appeal for him.
Qualifying as a pilot, he took part in the campaign against Iraqi rebels in the late 1920s and was fortunate not to have terminated his career when his DH9A was brought down in desert terrain by ground fire. With menacing rebels all around him Kellett nevertheless had the presence of mind to hump the tail of his stricken aircraft round, to give his gunner a field of fire. Thus the pair kept the rebels at bay until his flight commander was able to put down nearby and rescue them.
In 1936 Kellett was seconded to the Imperial Japanese Army to advise on aero-engineering matters. This unusual assignment, among what were to be deadly foes within five years, earned him the Order of the Sacred Treasure of Japan.
Two years later came the remarkable Egypt to Australia flight. As leader of the RAF’s Long Range Development Unit Kellett piloted one of the two Wellesley bombers which made the flight from Ismailia to Darwin. This exploit won him the Air Force Cross and the Brittania Trophy of the Royal Aero Club.
When war broke out Kellett was flying Wellingtons with No. 149 Squadron, and was involved in some of Bomber Command’s early attempts to penetrate the German air defences, valiant, doomed sorties records of which now make such tragic reading.
The squadron flew some of the very first raids of the war on September 4, 1939. Interdicted from bombing land targets (indeed even vessels at quaysides) through a desire not to harm the civil population the RAF set itself the task of attacking shipping in the hotly defended anchorages of the Heligoland Bight. Foul weather and fierce anti-aircraft fire set the tone for the future. The loss of seven out of 29 aircraft on this first day were a grim portent of things to come.
Under the vigorous promptings of Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the War Cabinet became anxious for more aggressive action from the bombers, and Kellett, now in command of 149 Squadron was involved in a three-squadron “reconnaissance in force” over Wilhelmshaven and the Schillig Roads on December 18, 1939. The Germans were ready. East of Heligoland the Luftwaffe’s fighters pounced and the bombers were harried all the way to their targets, where their miseries were compounded by the AA fire of the naval defences. From previous attacks the Germans had learned that the Wellington was helpless against a beam-on attack directed from above, as none of its gun turrets could train in that arc.
Twelve of the 22 raiders were lost on that day and the early illusions about the Wellington’s invulnerability were forever shattered.
Kellett, who was awarded the DFC in 1940, was on operations until 1942, when he was shot down over Tobruk and taken prisoner. He spent the rest of the war in captivity, and was in Stalag Luft III at the time of the “Wooden Horse” escape.
He was invalided out of the RAF in 1946. Thereafter he worked in Rhodesia for several years and then returned to the Northern Hemisphere, sailing in the Mediterranean with his second wife Kitty. She died two years ago.
[page break]
AIR CDRE RICHARD KELLETT
[italics] Air Vice-Marshal G.P. Chamberlain writes: [/italics]
Congratulations on the obituary (January 20) on the above. I knew him well as we entered Cranwell as Flight Cadets in September 1923 and graduated with Wings as Pilot Officers in July 1925.
May I offer one correction to the obituary? When Richard Kellett was shot down in 1937 for his first time he had been detailed to fly with no one in the rear seat of his DH9A; his role was “rescue aircraft” – he was expected to pick up any crew shot down. Ironically RK was the one shot down by gunfire from ground-based Iraqi “rebels”.
RK’s Flight Commander, Fergus Barratt, landed on the desert to pick up RK.
The Iraqis discovered they could approach Barratt’s DH9A from its nose without being fired at. Barratt’s air gunner held them off while RK hoisted its tail around.
Barrett re-started his DH9A and took off with his air gunner and RK in the back seat.
In due course Barratt received a DSO for this effort.
OBITUARIES
AIR COMMODORE RICHARD KELLETT
Breaking a long distance flying record
[photograph]
Air Commodore Richard Kellett, CBE, DFC, AFC, who has died at the age of 84, was a distinguished airman, who made his mark both before and during the last war. He has his niche in the history of aviation for the record-breaking non-stop flight he made in 1938, piloting a Vickers Wellesley bomber from Ismailia in Egypt to Darwin in Australia. This distance of 7,158 miles was covered between November 5 and November 7, 1938, and involved the aircraft in just over 48 hours flying time.
In the following year, flying the Vickers Wellington which succeeded the Wellesley, Kellett took part in some of the early bombing raids of the war which were directed against German shipping.
Kellet’s career was full of incident. The son of a senior naval surgeon he nevertheless opted for the RAF, the novel mechanical aspects of flying having an appeal for him.
Qualifying as a pilot, he took part in the campaign against Iraqi rebels in the late 1920s and was fortunate not to have terminated his career when his DH9A was brought down in desert terrain by ground fire. With menacing rebels all around him Kellett nevertheless had the presence of mind to hump the tail of his stricken aircraft round, to give his gunner a field of fire. Thus the pair kept the rebels at bay until his flight commander was able to put down nearby and rescue them.
In 1936 Kellett was seconded to the Imperial Japanese Army to advise on aero-engineering matters. This unusual assignment, among what were to be deadly foes within five years, earned him the Order of the Sacred Treasure of Japan.
Two years later came the remarkable Egypt to Australia flight. As leader of the RAF’s Long Range Development Unit Kellett piloted one of the two Wellesley bombers which made the flight from Ismailia to Darwin. This exploit won him the Air Force Cross and the Brittania Trophy of the Royal Aero Club.
When war broke out Kellett was flying Wellingtons with No. 149 Squadron, and was involved in some of Bomber Command’s early attempts to penetrate the German air defences, valiant, doomed sorties records of which now make such tragic reading.
The squadron flew some of the very first raids of the war on September 4, 1939. Interdicted from bombing land targets (indeed even vessels at quaysides) through a desire not to harm the civil population the RAF set itself the task of attacking shipping in the hotly defended anchorages of the Heligoland Bight. Foul weather and fierce anti-aircraft fire set the tone for the future. The loss of seven out of 29 aircraft on this first day were a grim portent of things to come.
Under the vigorous promptings of Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the War Cabinet became anxious for more aggressive action from the bombers, and Kellett, now in command of 149 Squadron was involved in a three-squadron “reconnaissance in force” over Wilhelmshaven and the Schillig Roads on December 18, 1939. The Germans were ready. East of Heligoland the Luftwaffe’s fighters pounced and the bombers were harried all the way to their targets, where their miseries were compounded by the AA fire of the naval defences. From previous attacks the Germans had learned that the Wellington was helpless against a beam-on attack directed from above, as none of its gun turrets could train in that arc.
Twelve of the 22 raiders were lost on that day and the early illusions about the Wellington’s invulnerability were forever shattered.
Kellett, who was awarded the DFC in 1940, was on operations until 1942, when he was shot down over Tobruk and taken prisoner. He spent the rest of the war in captivity, and was in Stalag Luft III at the time of the “Wooden Horse” escape.
He was invalided out of the RAF in 1946. Thereafter he worked in Rhodesia for several years and then returned to the Northern Hemisphere, sailing in the Mediterranean with his second wife Kitty. She died two years ago.
[page break]
AIR CDRE RICHARD KELLETT
[italics] Air Vice-Marshal G.P. Chamberlain writes: [/italics]
Congratulations on the obituary (January 20) on the above. I knew him well as we entered Cranwell as Flight Cadets in September 1923 and graduated with Wings as Pilot Officers in July 1925.
May I offer one correction to the obituary? When Richard Kellett was shot down in 1937 for his first time he had been detailed to fly with no one in the rear seat of his DH9A; his role was “rescue aircraft” – he was expected to pick up any crew shot down. Ironically RK was the one shot down by gunfire from ground-based Iraqi “rebels”.
RK’s Flight Commander, Fergus Barratt, landed on the desert to pick up RK.
The Iraqis discovered they could approach Barratt’s DH9A from its nose without being fired at. Barratt’s air gunner held them off while RK hoisted its tail around.
Barrett re-started his DH9A and took off with his air gunner and RK in the back seat.
In due course Barratt received a DSO for this effort.
Collection
Citation
“Air Commodore Richard Kellet's Obituary,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed February 11, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/41605.
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