Air Marshal Sir Eric Clive Dunn, (27 November 1927 – 16 July 2008) 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. Born in Winchester on 27 November 1927 to the son of

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior 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. Wing commander is immediately se ...

he was educated at Bridlington School,

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, and joined the RAF as an aircraft

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

in February 1944. Following three years at No 1 Radio School 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 ...

, Dunn graduated in second place as a radio fitter (air). At this point, he missed his first opportunity for an RAF

commission In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

, being very unlucky not to be selected for a cadetship. Dunn won his colours every year in

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, excelling to win the Victor Ludorum shield for outstanding sportsmanship. Dunn was soon posted to Hong Kong to work on the

flying boats A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull (watercraft), hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for b ...

, where Dunn volunteered for many missions during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. Dunn was an essential member for the crew in many of the missions as they lasted so long – some up to eighteen hours, and Dunn was responsible for the maintenance of the on-board navigation, electrical and radio equipment. Due to his efforts Dunn, then a

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

, was award the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

(BEM). After returning to England in 1951, Dunn was selected for a

within the

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

branch of the RAF. Dunn retired in July 1986 and for four years was a director at

Deutsch Deutsch ( , ) or Deutsche ( , ) may refer to: * or : the German language or in particular Standard German, spoken in central European countries and other places *Old High German language refers to Deutsch as a way to define the primary characteris ...

(then, Hellerman Deutsch). Dunn died on 16 July 2008 aged 80, leaving his wife and three daughters.

References

External links

RAF Cranwell Apprentices Association – Photos

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Air Marshal Sir Eric 1927 births 2008 deaths Companions of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Royal Air Force air marshals Recipients of the British Empire Medal Royal Air Force personnel of the Falklands War English rugby union players Royal Air Force personnel of the Korean War Trenchard Brats People educated at Bridlington School Sportspeople from Yorkshire Military personnel from Winchester Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Sportspeople from Winchester Rugby union players from Winchester