Air Marshal Sir Reginald Edward Wynyard Harland, (30 May 1920 – 30 July 2013) was a senior

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) an ...

commander.

Military career

Educated at Summerfields ( Summer Fields School), Oxford,

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, Harland joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1939 before the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

.Debrett's People of Today 1994 He transferred to the Technical Branch in 1941 and worked at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in me ...

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Marshal Sir Reginald Harland
/ref> Then, in 1942, he became an engineer to No.241 Squadron in Algeria, Tunisia and Italy and, in 1944, went with No.63 Repair and Salvage Unit to Corsica and the South of France before becoming an engineer officer with HQ No. 214 Group in Italy. After three years at the Air Ministry in London, he was trained as a pilot before going as Chief Engineering Instructor at the RAF Cadet College at Cranwell. He then went on a guided weapons course with the Army at Shrivenham. In 1953 he became Project Officer responsible for the Thunderbird missile at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. After a course at the RAF Staff College, he was posted to Los Angeles as Ballistic Missile Liaison Officer at the USAF Missile Division there. He became Officer Commanding the Central Servicing Development Establishment at

RAF Swanton Morley The former Royal Air Force Swanton Morley, more commonly known as RAF Swanton Morley, was a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, England, located near to the village of Swanton Morley. The site, now known as Robertson Barracks, is occupied by ...

in 1960, Senior Technical Staff Officer at Headquarters

No. 3 Group No. 3 Group (3 Gp) of the Royal Air Force was an RAF group first active in 1918, again in 1923–26, part of RAF Bomber Command from 1936 to 1967, and part of RAF Strike Command from 2000 until it disbanded on 1 April 2006. No. 3 Group was fi ...

in 1962 and Air Officer in charge of Engineering at Headquarters Far East Air Force in 1964. He went on to be Project Director for the Harrier Project at the Ministry of Technology in 1967, Air Officer Commanding No. 24 Group in 1970 and Air Officer in charge of Engineering at Headquarters RAF Air Support Command in 1972. He was appointed Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Maintenance Command in June 1973 and then Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at

RAF Support Command Support Command was a command of the Royal Air Force between 1973 and 1994. The headquarters was located at RAF Brampton in Cambridgeshire. History It was formed on 31 August 1973 by the renaming of RAF Maintenance Command,

in August 1973. He was President of the Society of Environmental Engineers from 1974 to 1977. He retired from the RAF in 1977. In retirement he became a Technical Director with W. S. Atkins. He was a Member of the Board of the Council of Engineering Institutions from 1980 to 1984 and vice-chairman from 1983 to 1984. He stood as a

Social Democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

for the constituency of Bury St Edmunds in the 1983 and 1987 elections. He lived in the town and was President of the ''Bury St Edmunds Society'', a local preservation group. He died on 30 July 2013.

Family

In 1942 he married Doreen Romanis, born in Harley Street, the daughter of the well known surgeon W H C Romanis, and elder sister of comedian Tony Hancock's first wife. Lady Harland died in November 2011. Sir Reginald and Lady Harland had three sons (one of whom is deceased) and two daughters (one of whom is deceased). He was the great-nephew of British

shipbuilder Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

Sir Edward Harland Sir Edward James Harland, 1st Baronet (15 May 1831 – 24 December 1895), was an Ulster-based English shipbuilder and politician. Born in Scarborough in the North Riding of Yorkshire, he was educated at Edinburgh Academy. In 1846, aged 1 ...

, and a relative of geologist, W. Brian Harland.Scarborough Evening News, January 2012

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Harland, Reginald 1920 births 2013 deaths People educated at Summer Fields School People educated at Stowe School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Royal Air Force air marshals Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Social Democratic Party (UK) parliamentary candidates