Timaru-Born Man New R.A.F. Chief

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30061, 20 February 1963, Page 7

Timaru-Born Man New R.A.F. Chief

Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Elworthy, who was born in Timaru 51 years ago, has been appointed Britain’s new Chief of the Air Staff. He succeeds Sir Thomas Pike, Marshal of the Royal Air Force, who has been Chief of the Air Staff since January, 1960.

Sir Charles Elworthy will take up his new appointment in September, the Air Ministry said. He is at present Oommander-in-Chief, Middle East Command, Aden. The son of Captain P. A. L. Elworthy, of Gordon’s Valley, Timaru, he went to England as a boy. He was educated at Marlborough and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1933, he was commissioned in the Reserve of Air Force Officers apd the next year he transferred to the Auxilliary Air Force. In 1935, Sir Charles Elworthy was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, and in the same year received a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force. He saw war service in Bomber Command and in 1942

became a group-captain—one of the three youngest officers of that rank in the service. In 1941 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. In the same year he also won the Air Force Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1948 he became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and in 1953 a member of the Royal Victorian Order. Sir Charles Elworthy became an air vice marshal in 1957 and an air marshal in 1960. From 1957 to 1959 he was commandant of the R.A.F. Staff College, Bracknell, and in 1959 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Air Staff. He was knighted in 1961. Sir Charles Elworthy visited New Zealand in 1958. He is married and has three sons and a daughter. One son is a flight lieutenant in the RA.F.