Douglas Evill

Air Chief Marshal Sir Douglas Claude Strathern Evill, (8 October 1892 – 22 March 1971) was an Australian-born British Royal Naval Air Service pilot and squadron commander during the First World War. Serving in the Royal Air Force between the wars, he was a senior air commander during the Second World War. Early life Douglas Evill was born on 8 October 1892 in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia to British parents. After receiving a private education in England, Evill studied as a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, on the Isle of Wight, before attending the Britannia Royal Naval College in Devon. Naval service and the First World War Evill was a cousin of the pioneer aviator Arthur Longmore who encouraged him to take up flying. After taking private flying lessons at Hendon, Evill gained his Aero Club Aviator's Certificate (No. 512) on 13 June 1913, only three months after gaining his naval commission as a sub-lieutenant. Evill then applied to join the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps but was not accepted and he spent some time serving on destroyers. Evill was promoted to full lieutenant on 15 August 1914 and was appointed an acting flight lieutenant on 4 December 1914 on securing a transfer to the Royal Naval Air Service which by 1914 had gained its independence from the Royal Flying Corps. Evill spent much of the First World War on operational flying duties over the Western Front, flying out of Dunkirk from February 1915 onwards. Probably around the summer of 1915 he took up duties on No. 1 Squadron RNAS which was based in Dunkirk. On 22 June 1916 Evill was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The citation read as follows: