Alfred Outram Pullman DFC (21 May 1916 – 6 February 1954) was a British soldier and airman who fought in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the

Mau Mau Uprising The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the ...

. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for gallant service after being killed in an air crash in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Early life

Pullman was the only son of Major Alfred Hopewell Pullman, of the Royal West Kent Regiment, and his wife Emilie Louisa Outram, daughter of Rev. Outram Marshall. His parents were married in June 1915, during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. His father, born in 1881, was the third son of Henry Pullman JP of Teddington, and had received the

Queen's South Africa Medal The Queen's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to British and Colonial military personnel, and to civilians employed in an official capacity, who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Altogether twenty-six clasps wer ...

with five clasps for service in the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

. In 1915 he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

, for service at the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used Chemical weapons in World War I, ...

."Major A. H. Pullman D.S.O." (obituary) in ''The Queen’s Own Gazette'', no. 824, May 1942, ; "Pullman, Alfred Hopewell", at militaryarchive.co.uk
p. 431
, accessed 2 May 2020 Pullman was born in May 1916 and baptized at St Paul's, Woking, on 10 June 1916. His father died in 1942. The young Pullman was educated at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

and then trained at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

, for a career in the British Army, graduating on 30 January 1936, aged nineteen.''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'', known generally as ''The Gazette'', is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, i ...

'', Issue 34251, 31 January 1936, pp
670

671
/ref> Two weeks before, on 16 January, his grandmother Emilie Marshall had died, leaving an estate valued at £9,207, , with probate being granted to his mother.

Career

Immediately after Sandhurst, in January 1936, Pullman was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into the

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...

. In October 1939, he was living in

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...

with his mother and was a General Aircraft Student. In February 1942, he was appointed as a probationary Pilot Officer in the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force ( ...

, in November 1947 was promoted to

Flying Officer Flying officer (Fg Offr or F/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Flying officer is immediately ...

, and then in January 1951 to Flight Lieutenant. He next attended the

Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school in the world. The sch ...

at RAF Little Rissington, which had the purpose of training flying instructors, and on 7 August 1951 passed out as a Qualified Service Pilot. In 1952, Pullman was posted to

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

, in support of the Southern Rhodesian Air Force, and took his wife and children to live there with him. On 27 March 1953, he was transferred from the short service list onto the permanent commission list, and four days later was posted with No 1340 Flight of Harvards to Kenya, on active service during the

. He led the flight in aerial attacks on Mau Mau bases in wooded country, sometimes "diving steeply into the gorges of the Mathioya, Chania, Gura, and Zuti rivers, often in conditions of low cloud and driving rain". He showed an offensive spirit and was determined in making attacks. On 6 February 1954, Pullman was killed when his plane crashed,"Posthumous Kenya Award" in ''

Flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

'', 9 July 1954, p. 64 and his wife and children, at home in Rhodesia, were informed by telegram.Laura La Bella, ''Philip Pullman'' (Rosen Publishing Group Inc, 2013), pp. 10–12 His remains were buried in Kenya at

Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County and was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province (Kenya), Central Province. The town is situated a ...

. On 29 June 1954 Pullman was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, "in recognition of gallant and distinguished service in operations in Kenya".''The London Gazette'', Issue 40219, 29 June 1954
p. 3829
/ref> He had completed a total of 3,040 flying hours, including 220 sorties for bombing and strafing. His widow and two young sons attended an investiture at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

Private life

On 7 April 1945, at St Andrew's, Kirby Bedon,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, Pullman married Audrey Evelyn Merrifield, a WAAF Officer, the daughter of the Rev. Sidney Merrifield, Rector of the parish. Their son

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...

was born in October 1946, and a second son, Francis, in 1949. In October 1954, after her husband's death, Audrey Pullman married Henry J. Dodgson, known as Johnnie, another Royal Air Force pilot. After Audrey's death in 1989, papers came to light which suggested that at the time of Pullman's death in 1954 he and his wife had separated and were seeking a divorce.

Later criticism

Pullman's son Philip became a fantasy novelist, and in 2008 he commented on his father "I have never fully understood why he got the medal. As far as I can make out, it was an accident. His plane crashed... Given what we now know about British behaviour during the insurgency, my father probably doesn't come out of this with very much credit, judged by the standards of modern liberal progressive thought."Cole Moreton
"Philip Pullman: His dark materials"
in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 25 May 2008, accessed 2 May 2020 He has also claimed that his father had gambling debts and might have killed himself, and also that he suspected the death had been faked and that his father was "alive somewhere in hiding with a different name".

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pullman, Alfred Outram 1916 births 1954 deaths British Army personnel of World War II British military personnel of the Mau Mau rebellion British military personnel killed in action Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Middlesex Regiment officers Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) People educated at Cheltenham College Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1954 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Kenya