Grahame Donald - Military Career

Military Career

Donald also became famous for his miraculous escape from death having fallen from his Sopwith Camel at 6,000 feet (1,800 m) in 1917. On that fateful summer's afternoon he attempted a new manoeuvre in his Sopwith Camel and flew the machine up and over, and as he reached the top of his loop, hanging upside down, his safety belt snapped and he fell out. He was not wearing a parachute as a matter of policy. Incredibly, the Camel had continued its loop downwards, and Donald landed on its top wing. He grabbed it with both hands, hooked one foot into the cockpit and wrestled himself back in, struggled to take control, and executed "an unusually good landing". In an interview given 55 years later he explained, "The first 2,000 feet passed very quickly and terra firma looked damnably 'firma'. As I fell I began to hear my faithful little Camel somewhere nearby. Suddenly I fell back onto her."

He was appointed Officer Commanding No. 205 Squadron in 1920, Officer Commanding No. 3 Squadron and Station Commander at RAF Leuchars in 1921 before he moved on with his new squadron to RAF Gosport the following year. He joined the Directing Staff at the RAF Staff College, Andover in 1924 and became Officer Commanding No. 201 Squadron in 1928. He went on to be Officer Commanding the School of Naval Co-operation in 1929, Officer Commanding No 1 (Indian Wing) Station at Kohat in India and the rejoined the Directing Staff, RAF Staff College in 1935. After a tour as Instructora the Imperial Defence College in 1937 he became Director-General of Organisation, a post he held at the start of World War II. He was made Deputy Air Member for Supply and Organisation in 1941 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Maintenance Command in 1942 before retiring in 1947.