Flt Lt M A Rufus Heald MBE 14/7/1925 - 1/12/2022
It is with considerable sadness to inform you that my father, Rufus passed away last Thursday afternoon at the age of 97.
Dad joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 and learnt to fly on the Empire Flying Training Scheme in Rhodesia, then returning to the UK to eventually do the Spitfire OCU before being posted to India flying the Tempest II with 20 Squadron in 1947 followed by a posting to 213 Squadron in the Middle East flying the Tempest Mk VI.
1951 saw him flying Vampires at Driffield followed by a posting to Hong Kong surviving a very spectacular crash in a Vampire at Kai Tak following a engine failure. Whilst in Hong Kong he was then sent to Leconfield to do a QWI course on the Vampire/Meteor then returning to Hong Kong.
1954 saw a return to the UK flying a mixture of Vampires and Meteors including an ejection from a Vampire T11 when the engine caught fire. From Valley he went to RAF Wildenwrath as Station Adjutant in 1958 for 3 years and then back to the UK for refresher training before going to RAF Strubby to instruct on Vampires/Meteors at the College of Air Warfare. After Strubby a ground tour in MOD Whitehall followed where he held the post of "Wing Commander Spry" writing a monthly article for Air Clues. From there he went to Exeter as OC 4 AEF for 2 tours before joining 229 OCU at Chivenor on the Hunter Sim and as CSRO.
Following Chivenor's move to Brawdy, dad was posted to RAF Mountbatten as Trials Officer for the three services and as a Staff Instructor with the School of Combat Survival and Rescue before retiring in 1980 at 55.
Post RAF dad instructed in the civilian world until finally hanging up his helmet in 2008 at the age of 83 having accumulated some 15,279 hours flying some of the worlds most iconic types.
The funeral will be on December 19th in Plymouth and if anyone that served with or knew Dad would like to attend please message me accordingly.
Nigel Heald