Noel Agazarian
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Noël le Chevalier Agazarian (26 December 1916 – 16 May 1941) was a British World War II
fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
with seven victories. He was the brother of
Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
agent
Jack Agazarian Jack Charles Stanmore Agazarian (27 August 1915 – 29 March 1945), code name Marcel, was an agent for the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in France during World War II. The purpose of SOE was t ...
, who was executed by the Germans in 1945, and Monique Agazarian, pilot, author and businesswoman.


Early life

Noël Agazarian's father was Berge Agazarian (died 1944), an
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
who arrived in the United Kingdom in 1911 as a teenager with little money. However he eventually prospered, owning a successful electrical engineering company. He married Frenchwoman Jacqueline Marie-Louise le Chevalier. They had six children, four boys (three of whom later joined the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
) and two girls, one of whom, Monique Agazarian, later served as a pilot in the
Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factori ...
. The four siblings' interest in aviation may have been sparked by their mother, who bought a World War I surplus
Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristi ...
fighter for £5 at a Croydon auction, and parked it in the back garden of the family house for use as a plaything by her children. Noël Agazarian was schooled at
Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...
, where he was a member of the first XV
Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
team, captained both the swimming and boxing teams and was awarded the '' Victor Ludorum'' for sporting achievement. He then went on to
Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...
in 1935. An earlier application to
Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...
was rejected, allegedly because the Trinity College President,
Herbert Blakiston Herbert Edward Douglas Blakiston (5 September 1862 – 29 July 1942) was an England, English academic and clergyman who served as President (college), President of Trinity College, Oxford, and as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford.Clare ...
, objected to Agazarian's ethnicity. At Oxford, Agazarian began his flying career with the
Oxford University Air Squadron The Oxford University Air Squadron, abbreviated Oxford UAS, or OUAS, formed in 1925, is the training unit of the Royal Air Force at the University of Oxford and forms part of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. OUAS is one of fifteen Univers ...
. He achieved a
blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...
in boxing and became friends with
Richard Hillary Flight Lieutenant Richard Hope Hillary (20 April 1919 – 8 January 1943) was an Anglo-Australian Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Second World War. He wrote the book '' The Last Enemy'' about his experiences during the Battle of Brit ...
, who became well known some years later for his autobiography '' The Last Enemy'' about his time as a fighter pilot.Hillary (2010) p.12 Hillary later wrote this description of Agazarian:


RAF service

Noël Agazarian joined the Royal Air Force as a Volunteer Reservist and was commissioned as a
pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...
on 14 February 1939. He completed his initial flying training at the same time as Richard Hillary, at
RAF Lossiemouth Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the ...
,Wynn (1999), p.5 after which both were assigned to
RAF Old Sarum Old Sarum Airfield is a grass strip airfield north-north-east of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. The adjacent areas are a mix of vacant land, residential and industrial sites. Residential areas are to the south and east, occupying the old air ...
, to train as army co-operation pilots.The job of army co–operation pilots included tasks such as reconnaissance, aerial photography and aerial artillery spotting They flew
Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's ...
liaison aircraft A liaison aircraft (also called an army cooperation aircraft) is a small, usually unarmed aircraft primarily used by military forces for artillery observation or transporting commanders and messages. The concept developed before World War II and ...
and
Hawker Hector The Hawker Hector was a British biplane army co-operation and liaison aircraft of the late 1930s; it served with the Royal Air Force and saw brief combat in the Battle of France in May 1940. Some Hectors were later sold to Ireland. It was name ...
biplanes; during the training, Agazarian crashed a Hawker Hector but was unscathed. By the time his course ended (June 1940) France had fallen, the
Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...
had taken place and a
German invasion of Britain Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (german: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle o ...
was thought to be imminent. Because of this crisis, Hillary and Agazarian were both amongst the majority of pilots from the graduating Army co-operation class who were immediately reassigned as fighter pilots, something that pleased Agazarian immensely.Hillary (2010), p.51 After a few weeks of fighter training, Agazarian joined 609 Squadron, a fighter squadron flying
Supermarine Spitfires The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
, based at
RAF Warmwell Royal Air Force Warmwell or more simply RAF Warmwell is a former Royal Air Force station near Warmwell in Dorset, England from 1937 to 1946, located about 5 miles east-southeast of Dorchester; 100 miles southwest of London. During the Second W ...
in Dorset. His first victory was on 11 August 1940, when he shot down a
Messerschmitt Bf 110 The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often known unofficially as the Me 110,Because it was built before ''Bayerische Flugzeugwerke'' became Messerschmitt AG in July 1938, the Bf 110 was never officially given the designation Me 110. is a twin-engine (Des ...
heavy fighter around south of the
Isle of Portland An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...
. It appears his victim was ''
Gruppenkommandeur ''Gruppenkommandeur'' is a Luftwaffe position (not rank), that is the equivalent of a commander of a group or wing in other air forces. A ''Gruppenkommandeur'' usually has the rank of Major or ''Oberstleutnant'' (Lieutenant Colonel), and commands ...
'' (Group Commander) ''
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
'' Ernst Ott of ''
Zerstörergeschwader 2 ''Zerstörergeschwader'' 2 (ZG 2—2nd Destroyer Wing) (lit. ''destroyer wing'') was a Luftwaffe heavy/destroyer Fighter Aircraft-Wing (air force unit), wing of World War II. Formation ''Zerstörergeschwader'' 2 (ZG 2—2nd Destroyer W ...
''. Ott was killed along with his gunner/radio operator. On 12 August, he shot down two
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
fighters and damaged a Messerschmitt Bf 110 around south of
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. This occurred during a large battle, when a formation of German bombers and their fighter escorts were intercepted by three RAF fighter squadrons after they bombed Portsmouth and its dockyards. Agazarian was promoted from pilot officer to flying officer on 14 August and continued to fly throughout the
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
. His last victory with 609 Squadron was on 2 December, when he shared in the destruction of a
Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Designed in the early 1930s as a ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") intended to be fast enough to outrun opposing a ...
bomber with Polish pilot Tadeusz Nowierski (in Polish). By this time he had shot down six aircraft, damaged four and shared in the destruction of three. One of the aircraft he flew during the battle, Supermarine Spitfire number ''R6915'', still exists and is preserved in the
Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...
in London. He twice made forced landings in it because of battle damage, but used it to shoot down four German aircraft and damage another. In January 1941, Agazarian received a requested transfer to 274 Squadron in North Africa, a fighter squadron equipped with
Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...
s. On 1 May 1941, he destroyed a Messerschmitt Bf 109 over
Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near th ...
, Libya. However, on 16 May, he was shot down and killed by Fw. Franz Elles in a Messerschmitt Bf 109 of 2./
JG 27 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 27 (JG 27) "''Afrika''" was a fighter wing of the Luftwaffe during World War II. The wing was given the name "Africa" for serving in the North African Campaign predominantly alone in the period from April 1941 to Septemb ...
near Gambut (Kambut), during the Commonwealth offensive known as
Operation Brevity Operation Brevity was a limited offensive conducted in mid-May 1941, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Conceived by the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command, General Archibald Wavell, Brevity was int ...
. He is buried in the
Knightsbridge War Cemetery Knightsbridge War Cemetery is a war cemetery located in Acroma, Libya, located 750 metres south of the main road from Benghazi to Tobruk, west of Tobruk. The cemetery is situated in open country, the Cross of Sacrifice is set high above the level o ...
,
Acroma Acroma (also Akramah and Ikrimah) is a town in northeastern Libya in Butnan District, about 28 km west of Tobruk. On April 17, 1917, the Treaty of Acroma, was signed by the Italian government (as occupying, colonial power) and Mohammed Idr ...
, Libya.


Notes


References

;Citations ;Bibliography * *
Full text
at Project Gutenberg Australia * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agazarian, Noel 1916 births 1941 deaths Military personnel from London British people of Armenian descent English people of French descent People educated at Dulwich College Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Royal Air Force officers The Few Armenian people of World War II British World War II flying aces Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Aviators killed by being shot down Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Burials at Knightsbridge War Cemetery Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II