Air Commodore Cyril Norman Ellen: A Life of Service, Skill and Leadership

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NOTICE: WANTED - Flying log books and militaria for Air Commodore C N Ellen - if anyone reading this knows the whereabouts of the flying log books, or any other items, for Cyril Norman Ellen, we'd be enormously grateful if you would get in touch.

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Click here for a detailed timeline of Cyril Ellen's career.

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Early Life and Cinema Roots

Cyril Norman Ellen was born on 6th September 1895 at 15 Church Street, Seaham Harbour in the County of Durham. Between 1905 and 1910, he attended Belmont Road Schools in South Tottenham, North London, and was employed as a clerk between 1910 and 1913. At the age of nineteen, on 23rd April 1915, he joined the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) as a volunteer and initially served as a Probationary Chief Petty Officer, borne on the books of the accounting base, HMS President II. His initial training might have included a time at Crystal Palace, where ratings and officers entering service in the RNAS underwent their basic training.

In addition, around this period Cyril almost certainly undertook a stint at RNAS Kingsnorth. Shortly before enlisting, he had applied to Major Fletcher at Hoo, Kent, (ie. RNAS Kingsnorth) for a post as a 'Cinematograph Photographer' and, given his professional background, he was specifically assigned to the photographic branch. From June 1913, he'd been employed by the Eclair Film Company and, during this time, he'd established himself as an "excellent camera operator", securing first class negatives in various subjects, including water and aviation pictures. He was familiar with Gillon large and small cameras and a Pathé machine and, at one stage, he was in complete charge of a silent newsreel called the Eclair Cinema Journal.

Cyril Ellen pictured outside the Hill and Smith steel shed at RNAS Kingsnorth. Behind him sits an early SS-class airship prototype, featuring a B.E.2c fuselage as its car. This experimental craft utilised the repurposed envelope of airship HMA No. 2 (Willows No. 4) and was designed and constructed specifically at Kingsnorth Airship station.

From Photographer to Combat Hero

On 1st July 1915, Cyril joined the seaplane tender, HMS Riviera, operating with the Dover Patrol. A pivotal engagement occurred on 18th June 1916. While flying in a Short Admiralty 184 seaplane (No. 8357), piloted by Flight Lieutenant G.W. Price, the engine caught fire, forcing a landing in a German minefield eight miles north of Ostend. While stranded for several hours, the two men successfully drove off attacks from three enemy aircraft using Lewis gun fire. They were eventually rescued and towed to safety. This action, demonstrating both technical composure and combat bravery, led to Cyril's recommendation for a commission. Read more about this incident here.

Despite an initial failure of his eye test due to strain, in November 1916, Cyril was commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant and began training as an Observer at the RNAS schools in Crystal Palace and Eastchurch. He qualified as a Wireless Telegraphy (W/T) Observer, passing first on his course.

Aerial Reconnaissance and the Birth of the RAF

By 1917, Cyril was deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean with the Aegean Squadron, specifically No.2 Wing RNAS, "D" Flight (which later became 221 Squadron). Operating from Stavros, the reconnaissance work in the Neohori Sector was highly detailed, involving the identification and tracking of numerous enemy battery positions. For his "gallant conduct" in the Salonika theatre, he was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (D.F.C.) for "valuable service in photographic flights at low altitudes and at times under difficult conditions".

On 30th August 1918, the German submarine UC 37 launched a targeted torpedo attack against British naval forces stationed off Stavros. While one torpedo successfully struck and damaged the Edgar-class cruiser HMS Endymion, a second, intended for the monitor HMS Abercrombie, failed to find its target. This photograph captures the second torpedo after it narrowly missed its mark and ran aground on the beach at Stavros.

Cyril transitioned to the newly formed Royal Air Force in April 1918 and, following the war, he was posted to India with No. 31 Squadron, where he attended the Mountain Warfare School in Abbottabad. He was recorded as having "worked really hard" and took "great interest in the schemes, demonstrations, etc.."

The Nowshera Boat and Railway Bridges spanning the Kabul River, as seen from the air. Situated near Risalpur, the primary Royal Air Force station and operational hub for the North-West Frontier, these landmarks were central to the landscape during Cyril Ellen’s posting with No. 31 Squadron.

Pioneering the Desert Air Routes

Though his applications to fly had been denied during the war, Cyril underwent aviation training at the Almaza Air Base, (RAF Heliopolis) Cairo, Egypt, and finally qualified as a pilot in 1921. He was posted to No. 45 Squadron in Iraq where he served as a Flying Officer and Adjutant. He became a pioneer of the Cairo-to-Baghdad airmail route, a gruelling 860-mile journey across trackless desert. Flying the Vickers Vernon, Cyril faced the harsh reality of early long-distance flight. In April 1922, he was stranded in the desert for several days near Azrak after his port engine failed. Extensive repairs were conducted in the heat until relief arrived. In another incident later that year, he was forced to land 20 miles from Baghdad due to fuel pump failure. He notably commended the local Sheik Faid, who provided food and protection for his crew overnight. By February 1923, Cyril was invalided back to the UK.

Cyril Ellen (centre) and two others standing with Vickers Vernon (J6868) on a desert mud flat. This photograph might depict an incident on 15th April 1922, during a flight from Cairo to Baghdad. After Cyril Ellen’s Vickers Vernon (J6871) malfunctioned over the desert, he and four accompanying aircraft were forced to land on the Azrak mud flats. The aircraft pictured here (J6868) was flown by Flight Lieutenant Saundby (later Air Marshal Sir Robert Saundby) who continued on to deliver his mail whilst Cyril finally reached Baghdad on 29th April.

Signals Specialisation and Academic Contributions

Cyril spent much of the 1920s specialising as a Signals Officer, completing the Long Wireless Telegraphy & Signals Course at Flowerdown in 1924. During May and June 1925, he investigated the tragic death of Flight Sergeant Frank Lowry, OBE, who was electrocuted during an aerial wireless test. Upon re-examining the aircraft, he identified four specific faults within the wireless apparatus and subsequently gave evidence at the inquest. On 3rd October that year, he married Gladys Lily Gardner.

Cyril held administrative and signals roles at RAF Leuchars and RAF Cranwell and, whilst he was an instructor at the RAF Cadet College at Cranwell, he wrote an entirely new book of lectures and revised the wireless syllabus, an achievement that earned him an Air Ministry Commendation. However, his dedication to this task meant he struggled to maintain his required flying hours, necessitating a refresher course in 1930.

Command in India and the Quetta Earthquake

In 1932, Cyril returned to India with No. 20 (AC) Squadron in Peshawar. During this time, under his command, the squadron was involved in the "MOHCOL operations", receiving commendation for the "great moral effect" of retaliatory air actions which influenced the withdrawal of tribal fighters from the Nahakki area.

Cyril's service in India earned him a distinction of extreme rarity: the India General Service Medal with the three-clasp combination of 'Mahsud 1919-20', 'Waziristan 1919-21', and 'Mohmand 1933'. While 100 medals with three clasps were issued to the RAF, this specific combination of clasps is recorded as unique within the service.

Cyril was promoted to Squadron Leader and in November 1933, he took command of No. 5 (AC) Squadron in Quetta, British India. The following year, he was the Officer Commanding the Annual Flight through Mekran (present day Makran, Balochistan) to inspect and photograph various landing grounds and to demonstrate aerial co-operation with a number of Mekran Levy Corps Posts.

Westland Wapiti IIA K1309 during the Mekran Annual Flight, November 1934. Piloted by Squadron Leader C.N. Ellen with passenger The Honourable Mr. B J Gould, C.M.G., C.I.E., I.C.S (Note: contemporary records identify Gould as the Agent to the Governor General and Chief Commissioner in Baluchistan though he officially held the post of Revenue and Judicial Commissioner during that period).

Close-up of the previous image: Squadron Leader Cyril Ellen in the pilot's cockpit with B.J. Gould, C.M.G., C.I.E., I.C.S. seated in the observer’s (rear) cockpit.

Cyril's leadership was tested during the catastrophic 1935 Quetta Earthquake. He and his family survived and, while he oversaw his squadron's recovery, his wife, Gladys, was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind Silver Medal for her bravery during the rescue work. Cyril was eventually flown to Karachi on 20th June as a "sick" supernumerary and the family was evacuated to Tilbury aboard the S.S. Narkunda.
Read the complete account of the Ellen family’s experience of the Quetta Earthquake.

Technical Leadership in World War II

In 1937, Cyril was promoted to Wing Commander and transitioned to the Technical Branch. After serving as the Chief Signals Officer, Technical Training Command, he then became the Chief Signals Officer to the RAF Component of the British Expeditionary Force when World War II broke out.

With the war underway, Cyril assumed the rank of Group Captain and took on pivotal leadership roles within technical training. From June 1940, he was the Officer Commanding, No. 3 Electrical & Wireless School at Compton Bassett, Wiltshire. He started and organised this school to hold 4000 trainees with a weekly turnover of 300.

In May 1942 he was appointed the Officer Commanding, No. 1 Signals School (capacity 5000) at Cranwell, Lincolnshire. The school changed its name to No 1 Radio School in 1943. It was at Cranwell in September 1942 that a large parade was held and Cyril subsequently received a letter of congratulations, which was read out to the unit commanders.

September 1942: Personnel on parade at No. 1 Signals School, Cranwell,
during Cyril Ellen’s tenure as Officer Commanding.

In February 1943 he became the Officer Commanding, No. 7 Radio School (capacity 1500) which was located in the South Kensington Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London.

Unlike his work building the school at Compton Bassett from the ground up, Cyril’s appointments to No. 1 Signals and No. 7 Radio Schools required him to take over existing operations to resolve sustained difficulties. Across all three commands, he oversaw the education of tens of thousands of technical trainees.

In 1941, Cyril served as President of the Court of Inquiry on Consolidated Liberator Mk.I (AM915). The aircraft was on a flight from Montreal to Ayr when it struck Arinarach Hill near Campbeltown, claiming the lives of ten crew and passengers. Cyril received a letter from Air Commodore Leslie Hollinghurst (later Air Chief Marshal Hollinghurst) congratulating him on how he had conducted the Inquiry, adding "it is a model of what a Court of Inquiry of this nature should be".

At the end of 1943, he was appointed the Deputy Director of Technical Training (Signals) at the Air Ministry and his contributions were eventually recognised with a Certificate of Good Service from Technical Training Command.

Post-War Disarmament and Diplomacy in Germany

In 1945, Cyril was deployed with the Control Commission for Germany (CCG). As Director of Signals, Air Division, he arrived in Detmold, Germany on 28th June 1945 and took charge of the Signals aspects of disarmament under the overall direction of Air Commodore Hart (later Air Marshal Sir Raymund George Hart).

Cyril completed his Signals task in February 1946 and was transferred to assist the Deputy Chief of Air Division in Berlin "on all matters". To make way for the post-war contraction of the service, he was placed on the retirement list with effect from 14th August 1946, retaining the rank of Air Commodore.

Near the end of that same year, Cyril accepted an appointment with the Control Commission under the Foreign Office as a Senior Control Officer. He briefly commanded Kreis Group HQ Paderborn during the demobilisation of the Commander until January 1947.

He then served as the British Resident in Landkreis Warburg, Westphalia, until 1950. In this role, he acted as a representative of the British government, a remand magistrate, and an honorary game warden. He was a prominent figure in the local community, receiving formal holiday greetings from German mayors and city directors who expressed hope for a "better future" and "true peace". He was also a guest of honour at significant regional events, such as the Warburg October Week, where he appeared alongside future Federal President Heinrich Lübke.

Cyril Ellen serving as the British Resident,
Landkreis Warburg, Westphalia

Cyril governed not through force, but through "example and persuasion". Part of his résumé from this period acts as a professional reference and reflects a man of absolute reliability, having "political acumen" and "irreproachable character" as well as noting he possessed a "logical and clear mind" and that his "loyalty and integrity are beyond reproach."

Air Commodore Ellen died on 7th April 1981, in Plymouth, Devon.

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Sources
Service Record of C.N. Ellen.
Various Public Repositories and Archives.
The Ellen Collection of Personal Papers (Private Family Archive).
The Ellen Collection of Original Photographs (Private Family Archive).

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