Lieutenant-Commander Sir Russell Wood RNR

SIR RUSSELL WOOD

Russell Dillon Wood’s lengthy service in the Fleet Air Arm and his survival from 1942 to 1945 in the same squadron despite enemy action and his ration of engine failures and carrier deck barrier prangs was highly unusual. He flew in many of the famous campaigns of the war.
He signed up to join the navy on his eighteenth birthday in May 1940 and after a period sweeping leaves in the barracks was accepted for pilot training as a Leading Airman rating, first at Luton in Bedfordshire and then Ontario, Canada. Promoted to acting midshipman, he returned to the Fighter School at Yeovilton, qualifying as a Fulmar pilot and joining the front-line 809 Squadron, based in June 1942 at the naval air station at Twatt in the Orkneys. Wartime pressures meant that Wood had by this time amassed only 200 hours in the air, a few minutes of air-to-air firing, three hours runway-based deck landing practice and no proper deck landings at sea. He confessed to being ‘a bit nervous’ on meeting the squadron ‘veterans’ and being told that the average survival time for a front-line naval aviator was about five months.
In July 1942 the squadron embarked in the carrier Victorious and with the objective of shooting down German Condor shadowing aircraft, was part of the ‘distant escort’ for a dozen convoys running vital war materials to Russia and return, one of which was the notorious catastrophe of Convoy PQ17 which, after a decision based on faulty intelligence about the movement of German heavy warships, was ordered to scatter by the Admiralty and lost 21 defenceless merchant ships.
Victorious then proceeded to the Mediterranean and provided air defences for the biggest, most urgent and hardest fought of all the convoys to beleaguered Malta, Operation Pedestal. Ultimately, Pedestal was a success. Supplies, including oil and Spitfire fighters, allowed Malta to hold out albeit at the cost of the loss of nine merchant ships, one aircraft carrier, two cruisers, and a destroyer. 809 lost three of their twelve Fulmars. On one occasion Wood after chasing Heinkel bombers had the unpleasant experience of being ‘bounced ‘ by two faster and more manoeuvrable ME109 fighters, finally escaping at sea level.
Returning home in Victorious, 809 Squadron was retrained to the photoreconnaissance role and took part in the Allied invasion of North Africa, Operation Torch. Wood distinguished himself by being the first Allied aircraft to land at Maison Blanche airfield and report its capture from the Vichy French.
Leaving the Victorious, 809 Squadron gave up their mannerly two-seat Fulmars for the agile Seafire and joined the light carrier Unicorn for Operation Avalanche, the landings on mainland Italy at Salerno in September 1943.
Embarked in the light fleet carrier Stalker from May 1944, Wood, at the age of 22, was now the longest surviving member of 809 squadron.
While detached ashore for two months on convoy protection operations from Algeria, he was able to fly and visit his brother Rory’s grave at the new military cemetery at Sfax.
Wood then flew dive bombing missions with the Royal Air Force in Italy, then in August returned to Stalker and flew on ground attack and fighter missions in support of the Allied invasion of the south of France, Operation Dragoon. Wood was twice awarded a mention in despatches for his gallantry and professionalism during these events, the citation reading “This exceptional pilot has on all occasions displayed the utmost sang-froid when entrusted with the leadership of dangerous strikes”
After ground-attack operations in the Aegean, Wood, now a lieutenant RNVR, was posted to the air station at St Merryn, Cornwall as an instructor. His last recorded flight was in a 22 February 1946.
After the war, Wood continued to serve in the RNVR, later the RNR, attaining the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and being awarded the Volunteer Reserve Decoration in 1964.
He joined the accountancy practice of Reeves Young in Canterbury after demobilisation and having passed his Chartered Accountancy exams worked in various management positions with Rio Tinto, Abbott, and Fisons.
His appointment in 1968 as Deputy Treasurer to The Queen was made on the recommendation of the late Lord Cobbold, a former Governor of the Bank of England, and the Lord Chamberlain of the day. Lord Cobbold saw the need for greater professionalism in the management of Her Majesty’s affairs and Wood’s appointment marked the first step in this direction.
Known to all as “Biggles”, Russell Wood had just the right mix of personality, diplomacy and professional skills as an accountant and businessman to fit harmoniously into The Queen’s Household and to introduce sound commercial accountancy practices. He was closely involved in the important changes that were made in 1972 and 1975 to the Civil List (the Government’s funding provision for the Sovereign’s official expenditure). He spearheaded the adoption of computerized systems and led on commercialising some of the assets of the Royal Estates such as the Royal Apartments at Windsor, also developing revenue generating schemes such as the farming of mushrooms and cut flowers using the by-products of the many royal horses.
He was appointed KCVO on his retirement in 1985, having previously been appointed CVO in 1979 and MVO in 1973, thereafter serving as a Gentleman Usher to the Queen, and latterly as an Extra Gentleman Usher. He is survived by his wife Jean Davidson whom he married in 1948 and their son and three daughters.

Sir Russell Wood KCVO VRD, naval aviator and
Deputy Treasurer to HM the Queen 1969-85, was
born on May 16, 1922. He died on December 15 aged
86.