Air Vice-Marshal

Air Vice-Marshal

Air vice-marshal is a two-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in...

 F.H. "Sammy" Maynard, (birth name Forster Herbert Martin Maynard) was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

er of the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 who served in both World Wars. Maynard was a flying ace

Flying ace

A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...

 credited with six aerial victories during World War I. He also served as the Air Officer Commanding of Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 during the early part of World War II.

His son, Nigel Maynard

Nigel Maynard

Air Chief Marshal Sir Nigel Martin Maynard KCB, CBE, DFC, AFC, RAF was a senior Royal Air Force commander.-RAF career:...

, also became a Air Marshal in the RAF.

Early life

He was born in New Zealand to a Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 clergyman. The family returned to England two years later and he was educated in Leatherhead

Leatherhead

Leatherhead is a town in the County of Surrey, England, on the River Mole, part of Mole Valley district. It is thought to be of Saxon origin...

, and University College, London

World War I service

Maynard joined the Royal Naval Division in 1914 as an engineer. He transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service

Royal Naval Air Service

The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...

 the following year. After training, he became an instructor until 1916.

In January 1917, he was posted to No. 1 Squadron RNAS on the Western Front. While there, flying a Sopwith Triplane

Sopwith Triplane

The Sopwith Triplane was a British single seat fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War. Pilots nicknamed it the Tripehound or simply the Tripe. The Triplane became operational with the Royal Naval Air Service in early 1917 and was...

, he ran up a string of six victories from 29 April through 1 June 1917; his final tally included an enemy fighter set afire, another one destroyed in conjunction with a couple of squadronmates, and four enemy planes driven down out of control, including one shared with Cyril Ridley

Cyril Ridley

Flight Lieutenant Cyril Ridley, DSC was a British World War I flying ace. He served with the Royal Naval Air Service in 1917/1918, flying Sopwith Triplanes and Sopwith Camels.-Early life:...

 and six other pilots.

In September 1917, he was transferred to the Aircraft Depot at Dunkirk. After his return to England, he was injured in a crash. After recovery, he became Officer Commanding of a training depot. He subsequently received the Air Force Cross for his work in training.

Inter war

Between the wars he attended the Imperial Defence College. He was posted to HQ Iraq Command and served adminisitrive positions for the Air Staff.

World War II service

When Italy

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

 declared war in June 1940 the entire strength of the fighter squadron based at Malta was six Gloster Gladiator

Gloster Gladiator

The Gloster Gladiator was a British-built biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. It was the RAF's last biplane fighter aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it...

s of which two were still in crates marked "Boxed Spares - Property of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

" (these having been left by HMS Glorious

HMS Glorious (77)

HMS Glorious was the second of the cruisers built for the British Royal Navy during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord, Lord Fisher, they were very lightly armoured and armed with only a few heavy guns. Glorious was completed in late 1916...

 in April): during the Siege of Malta

Siege of Malta

Siege of Malta may refer to:* The Siege of Malta , in which the Ottoman Empire failed to dislodge the Knights Hospitaller** Siege of Malta, 1570 work of the Cretan writer Antonios Achelis, about the above...

 these were part of its initially limited defence.

After he was replaced on Malta, he was AOA, HQ RAF Coastal Command

RAF Coastal Command

RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force . Founded in 1936, it was the RAF's premier maritime arm, after the Royal Navy's secondment of the Fleet Air Arm in 1937. Naval aviation was neglected in the inter-war period, 1919–1939, and as a consequence the service did not receive...

. In 1944 he was AOC of No. 19 (Reconnaissance) Group.

Reference

• Forster Maynard at New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum
• Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920. Christopher F. Shores, Norman L. R. Franks, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1990. ISBN 0-948817-19-4, 9780948817199.