Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometime ...

Sir Bernard Albert Chacksfield, (13 April 1913 – 27 December 1999) was a senior

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

officer in the 1950s and 1960s and later a chief commissioner of

The Scout Association The Scout Association is the largest organisation in the Scout Movement in the Scouting in the United Kingdom, United Kingdom. Following the rapid development of the Scouting, Scout Movement from 1907, The Scout Association was formed in 1910 ...

and chairman of the

Burma Star Association The Burma Star Association is a British veterans' association for ex-servicemen and women of all services who served in the Burma Campaign of World War II. The criterion for membership is the award of the Burma Star for service in Burma during Wor ...

. Chacksfield joined the Royal Air Force in 1927 as an apprentice aircraft engineer at

RAF Halton Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World ...

and later at

RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the RAF Colleg ...

. He was selected for flying training and gaining a commission as a Pilot Officer in 1933. He served on the North West Frontier in 1933 as a

Westland Wapiti The Westland Wapiti was a British two-seat general-purpose military single-engined biplane of the 1920s. It was designed and built by Westland Aircraft Works to replace the Airco DH.9A in Royal Air Force service. First flying in 1927, the Wa ...

pilot. By 1944 Chacksfield was in command of No. 910 Wing in Burma operating the

Republic Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

fighter-bomber. By the end of the war he had been

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

four times. From 1945 he became an air officer and served in the Air Ministry and later with

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. He served in a number of senior positions until finally becoming

Commandant-General of the RAF Regiment The Commandant-General of the RAF Regiment (CG RAF Regt) is the Royal Air Force commander of the RAF Regiment. The post was established in January 1942 immediately prior to the creation of the RAF Regiment. The first two holders of the post we ...

in 1963. Chacksfield retired in 1968 as an

air vice-marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometime ...

. With a longtime interest in the Scout movement he was appointed in 1970 as chief commissioner for the Scout Association later being awarded the movements highest award, the Silver Wolf in 1975. Chacksfield was awarded the ''

Bronze Wolf The Bronze Wolf Award is an award presented by the World Organization of the Scout Movement for outstanding service by an individual to the Scout Movement. Just over 400 people have received the Bronze Wolf since its creation in 1935. WOSM has r ...

'', the only distinction of the

World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest and, after the Order of World Scouts (formed in 1911), is the second-oldest international organization in the Scout Movement, having been established in 1922. It has 176 members. ...

, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting. In retirement he became chairman on the

until his death from cancer in 1999.

References

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – Sir Bernard Albert Chacksfield

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chacksfield, Bernard Albert Royal Air Force air marshals 1913 births 1999 deaths Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire English aviators The Scout Association Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Trenchard Brats Recipients of the Bronze Wolf Award Military personnel from the London Borough of Redbridge Deaths from cancer in England People from Ilford