Thomas Shirley (RAF officer)

Air Vice Marshal Sir Thomas Ulric Curzon Shirley, KBE, CB, CEng, FRAeS, FIEE (4 June 1908 – 16 January 1982) was a Royal Air Force officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Signals Command from 1964 until 1966.

Sir Thomas Shirley
Born(1908-06-04)4 June 1908
Died16 January 1982(1982-01-16) (aged 73)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchRoyal Air Force
Years of service1928–66
RankAir Vice Marshal
Commands heldSignals Command (1964–66)
RAF Technical College (1957–59)
Battles/warsSecond World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Mentioned in Despatches

RAF career

Shirley was commissioned as a Royal Air Force cadet at RAF Cranwell in 1928, and became a pilot in 1930, serving for the Army Cooperation Squadrons until 1936, when he became a Technical Specialist Officer in Signals Communications[1] He served the Second World War as a Signals Officer at Headquarters RAF Middle East and then as a Staff Officer in the Directorate of Telecommunications at the Air Ministry.[1] After the war he became Deputy Director of Signals at the Air Ministry and then Chief Signals Officer at Headquarters Transport Command before becoming Director of Radio Engineering at the Air Ministry in 1950.[1] He went on to be Senior Technical Staff Officer at Headquarters Fighter Command in 1959 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Signals Command in 1964 before retiring in 1966.[1]

Personal life

He married Vera Overton.[2]

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References
  1. Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Vice-Marshal Sir Thomas Shirley
  2. Obituary: Lady Vera Shirley Lincolnshire Echo, 7 February 2007
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Walter Pretty		 Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Signals Command
1964–1966		 Succeeded by
Sir Benjamin Ball
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