Captain Robert (‘Bob’) McQueen CBE Royal Navy

CAPTAIN ROBERT McQUEEN

            Bob McQueen was appointed CBE for meritorious service as Commander British Forces Ascension Island during the 1982 Falklands conflict. At a Ministry of Defence meeting he was assured that tri-service numbers on the island would not be more than 200 and that he would have the power of veto on anyone sent there. ‘Both these resolutions were broken within a fortnight’ he wrote later.  Personnel reached a peak of 1400; sixteen million pounds of freight and 6000 passengers arrived by air to the Wideawake airfield which on one day became the busiest airport in the world.  Including huge numbers of helicopter lifts, it logged more movements than Chicago O’Hare. As professional aviators, McQueen, with Lt Colonel Bryden USAF, were hot on Flight Safety and a remarkable record of only one ‘reportable incident’ of a minor nature occurred.

            The naval Task Force had sailed in a hurry and it soon became apparent that a forward logistics base, half- way but still 3,300 miles from the Falklands, would be vital to success. Huge quantities of stores, extra ammunition, more helicopters, spares, last-minute operational modifications to equipment all had to be catered for.  Assault ships had to be re-stowed and ‘combat loaded’. Some ships had arrived overloaded, some empty.  Many merchant ships taken up from trade required modifications and logistic support. The Task Force’s strategy was to re-capture South Georgia, to defeat or neutralise the Argentine navy and to reduce the threat from the brave and efficient Argentine air force before a landing could take place.  This meant that Ascension was also host to large numbers of soldiers who needed practice in disembarking in the dark, fully loaded, from unfamiliar ships as well as fitness exercise and weapon practice ashore while poised for the move south.

            Often mis-understood was the legal situation.  America acquired the use of Ascension – and other islands – under World War Two Lease-Lend arrangements.  A series of agreements from 1956 were governed by a ‘note’ of 1962 which obliged the Americans to grant ‘such logistic, administrative or operating facilities at the Airfield …….as necessary for use by UK military aircraft’ which in the light of what happened was a prudent piece of drafting. Normal traffic was two or three aircraft per fortnight, servicing the NASA and Cable and Wireless staff and the local population.  Thus the stress on local facilities was enormous and McQueen was warm in his praise for the support of the Resident Administrator, the people of the island and the communications agencies. With a mixture of charm and fierceness, he managed many competing interests – ‘there was only one war but a lot of organisations wanting to get their oar in’.  One RAF chaplain arrived, assured that a chaplain was needed. ‘Far from the case’ said McQueen, ‘we already have six and the Bishop of St Helena.  But you can hump stores if you like’. He became known as Captain One In – One Out in his control of numbers.

            Besides submarine satellite communications and Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, at Ascension American support included an aviation fuel ship permanently attached to the offshore buoy and pipeline – British engineers laying over three miles of pipe from the ‘tank farm’ to the airfield – and a vital reverse-osmosis fresh water generator as well as many folding huts – known as ‘Cardboard City’.   Other issues that McQueen had to deal with were the threat of an Argentine special forces or submarine attack, and as the campaign progressed, the support and repatriation of wounded and survivors and the correct treatment of prisoners of war including the notorious Lt-Commander Alfredo Astiz, wanted by a French court for the murder of two nuns. 

            A very considerable challenge was the RAF’s attack by a Vulcan bomber on Port Stanley airfield in the Falklands, an astounding feat of airmanship requiring 11 Victor tanker aircraft and two Vulcans, integrated into a formidably complex re-fuelling plan. Parking space at Wideawake was just adequate as was the fuel supply. The bombs dropped on this operation had a deterrent, psychological effect rather than any denial of the airfield’s use.

            McQueen made sure that withdrawal from Ascension was made with proper ceremony and gratitude.  Support and reinforcement plans for the Falklands has prompted a better permanent base.

            Robert McQueen joined the navy as a National Service Ordinary Seaman in 1952 with a place to read History at St Edmund’s Hall, Oxford which he gave up when he was selected for officer training, initially serving in motor torpedo boats and the frigate Whirlwind. When second in command of the inshore minesweeper Inglesham, he received a ‘phone call telling him that he had been selected for the Royal Yacht Britannia. Supposing a spoof, he was sharply told that this was his Admiralty appointer speaking and he was needed now.  He looked at his uniforms, sullied by minesweeping, and threw them away, visiting Gieves for new ones.  Then followed the 1956-57 world cruise and the Melbourne Olympics.

            After flying training, he became an all-weather night fighter pilot, flying Sea Venoms in the carrier Centaur in the Far East and Sea Vixens in Hermes.  His qualities were recognised by an appointment on the staff of the naval college at Dartmouth in 1962, after which he was senior pilot of 899 Squadron in the Eagle before commanding his own squadron, 893, in the Hermes.  He was described as the ‘complete squadron commander in all respects whose skill in flying is matched by his leadership’. McQueen flew 24 types of aircraft, making 664 day and 129 night deck landings.

            Promoted to commander, he was in charge of Fleet Air Arm pilot training before captaining the frigate Salisbury. Promoted to captain at the early age of 39, he was naval assistant to the navy’s chief of personnel, commanded the frigate Diomede and served as deputy director of naval administrative planning. In 1979 he commanded the air station at Portland which won the annual Wilkinson Sword of Peace competition.

            After Ascension he commanded the Broadsword and the 2^nd Frigate Squadron, noted for his outstanding ability to get the best out of his captains and their people, having an excellent sense of humour, total honesty and high moral standards – ‘a gentle mentor and a safe harbour for junior officers’.

            After the navy, McQueen held directorships in Flight Refuelling Ltd, Alan Cobham (Engineering) Ltd, British International Helicopters and Serco Ltd. For eight years from 1995 he was general secretary of the charitable Royal Naval Association and was on the council of King George’s Fund for Sailors. He was a Nautical Assessor to the House of :Lords and vice-chairman of the British Limbless Ex-Servicemens’ Association.  Having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, he greatly enjoyed classes for sufferers run by the English National Ballet and joined the Westminster Community Choir.

            He is survived by his wife Nadya Kissaun and their son and daughter.

Captain Robert McQueen CBE, Commander British Forces, Ascension Island 1982, was born on February 8, 1934.  He died on June 27 aged 78