SPLENDID RECORD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 243, 13 October 1936, Page 11

SPLENDID RECORD.

EXPERT ON AIR DEFENCE.

DUE AUCKLAND NEXT MONTH. _ "A very brainy chap," is the description given Wing Commander the Hon. .Ralph Alexander Cochrane, A.F.C., who is on his way to New Zealand to report on the problem of air defence, by a former officer of the Royal Air Force. Wing Commander Cochrane (says the "Dominion") has had an exceptionally wide experience in his service career. He served through the war in airships, becoming an airship captain in April, 1918. and winning the Air Force Cross, In 1919 he received a permanent commission as flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force and was posted to Cairo. In January, 1922, he transferred to heavier aircraft and was sent to No. 45 (Bomber) Squadron, Iraq, where ho stayed for two years, participating in the operations in Kurdistan before returning Home to the Boys' Wing, Cranweli. In 1925 he graduated from the R.A.F. Staff College, Andover, and was promoted to squadron leader, being afterward attached to the Headquarters Unit, Wessex Bombing Area. In March, 1928, he was again sent overseas, going out to Aden for staff duties, and in 1929 took command of No. S (Bomber) Squadron, stationed at Khormarsar, in that area, but before the end of the year was back on the staff of the Staff College, at which he had so recently been a student. He stayed there for two years and then joined the Directorate of the Cliief of the Air Staff, being employed in the Department of Operations and Intelligence. Three years ago he reached the rank of wing commander, and last year passed through the Imperial Defence College. He was then appointed to the air staff of the Inland Air Command, and five months ago transferred to the Air Staff, Training Command. Wing Commander Cochrane, who is the third son of Baron Cochrane of Cults, is 41 years of age, and prior to his joining the Air Force was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. He has attained some distinction in the writingi of competitive essays oil war subjects, and in 1929 received a special prize in the R. M. Groves Memorial Essay competition. Last year he won the Royal United Services Institution Gold Medal (Air) Essay competition. Now aboard the Mataroa, which left Southampton on October 2, Wing Commander Cochrane is due to arrive at Auckland on November 7.