Edward Fielden (RAF officer)

He was born in Bracknell, Berkshire, on 4 December 1903, the elder son of surgeon Edward Fielden, and his wife, Maud Jennie Armstrong.[2] He was educated at Heatherdown School, Ascot, and Malvern College where he joined the Officers' Training Corps. He obtained a short service commission with the Royal Air Force in 1924, aged 21, flying with No. 25 and then No. 23 Squadron in 1925 and 1926. He was posted to the meteorological flight at Duxford in September 1926, where he flew the flight's Hawker Woodcock.[3] After his five-year commission, in 1929, he was posted to the Reserve and awarded the Air Force Cross.[2][4][5] He was promoted to the rank of flight lieutenant in November that year.[6]

Fielden figured largely in the flying activities of the Royal Family for more than three decades, and most important royal flights were subject to his scrutiny and recommendation. His discretion and self-effacement earned him the nickname of "Mouse". His association with the Royal Family began in 1929, when the then Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VIII), who had acquired a Gipsy Moth, appointed Fielden as his personal pilot. In October 1933, the Prince appointed Flight Lieutenant Fielden as his Chief Air Pilot and Extra Equerry.[7] With the death of King George V on 20 January 1936, Edward VIII succeeded to the throne, and on 21 July, Fielden was appointed Captain of the King's Flight. Edward's reign was short-lived, abdicating on 11 December 1936 and being succeeded by his brother George VI. Fielden was retained as Captain of the King's Flight and his role was expanded.[2] He was charged with the carriage not only of members of the Royal Family, but also members of the Air Council and other important state personages.

Fielden had remained in the RAF Reserve and was promoted to wing commander in July 1936 and made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in October.[8][9] After the outbreak of the Second World War he returned to active service. In early 1942 he was chosen to be the commanding officer of the newly forming No. 161 Squadron.[2] The squadron was built from No. 138 Squadron's "C" Flight (the Lysander flight) and the King's Flight. The squadron shared the airbase at RAF Tempsford with 138 Squadron. In October 1942, he was promoted to group captain and assumed command of RAF Tempsford, where 138 (Special Duties) Squadron was now also based. Fielden played an important role in directing operations in support of the resistance movements in Europe. Promoted to group captain in January 1943,[1] he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross in April 1943.[10] In June that same year, his services to the Royal Family were recognised by his appointment as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.[11] Early in 1945, he was appointed commander of the base at RAF Woodhall Spa.[2]

"Mouse" Fielden at the time of his retirement from the RAF

After the war, on 1 March 1946, Fielden was reconfirmed in his former role as an Extra Equerry of the King.[12] In May 1946, the King's Flight was reformed with Fielden once again its captain. Following the death of King George VI on 6 February 1952, the unit was renamed as the Queen's Flight soon after the accession of Queen Elizabeth II. Fielden was created a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in June and in August was confirmed in his royal appointments as Extra Equerry and Captain of the Queen's Flight.[13][14]

Fielden retired from the Queen's Flight in 1962.[15] On 1 February 1962 he was appointed Senior Air Equerry to the Queen and promoted to air vice marshal.[16] He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1968 and retired as Senior Air Equerry in 1969, resuming his status as Extra Equerry.[17]

Fielden died on 8 November 1976 in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the age of 72.[2]

In 1940 Fielden married Mary Angela Jodrell, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Ramsden and Dorothy Lynch Cotton-Jodrell, and granddaughter of Edward Cotton-Jodrell].[2] He had a daughter and a son, Mark, who predeceased him, killed in a motor accident at Silverstone in 1963.[18] His wife, Lady Fielden, died in 2014 at the age of 98.[19][20]

• "Obituary: Sir Edward Fielden, Flying the Royal Family". The Times. 9 November 1976.

• Barrass, M.B. "Brief biography of Sir Edward Fielden". www.rafweb.org.
• "Royal Holiday". Flight Magazine. FlightGlobal Archive. 13 August 1954. p. 224. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2010.