The Career Of Air Commodore C.N. Ellen D.F.C. a.k.a. Harvey's Grandad
The Service Orders, Leave Clearance Certificates, etc. file
About seven years ago, I began scanning some documents in a file which had belonged to Harvey's Grandad Ellen, labelled "Service Orders, Leave Clearance Certificates, etc.". It was jam-packed with papers and forms spanning the whole of his career starting from when he joined the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in 1915 right through to the end of his career in the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1946.
The scanning was a big task and I found myself pausing about a third of the way through the pile. That pause was only halted at the end of December last year when I picked up the job once again.
Since arriving at the end of this particular digitisation project, I've now produced a web page which outlines the long and varied career of Air Commodore Cyril Norman Ellen D.F.C. which can be viewed here.
I found his career very interesting which included; undertaking Observer duties in the First World War when he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, flying the Cairo to Baghdad Airmail Route at its inception in 1921, writing a wireless course for the RAF Cadet College in 1927, Commanding No. 5 (AC) Squadron in Quetta when the notorious earthquake hit the region in 1935, commanding three RAF technical training schools during the Second World War, assisting the Deputy Chief of Air Division in Berlin in 1946, and then going on to hold appointments with the Control Commission under the Foreign Office.
I met Harvey about 18 months after his grandad died which is a real shame as I would have liked to have known him.
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Category: Ancestors Corner