Tribute to Ronald 'Tubby' Leonard
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Tribute to Ronald 'Tubby' Leonard
Daily Telegraph 22 November 2010
Commander Ronald 'Tubby' Leonard, who has died aged 84, took part in the final territorial expansion of the British Empire and later became a test pilot and the most decorated peacetime pilot in the Fleet Air Arm.
His "land grab" occurred on the morning of September 18 1955, when the Union flag was hoisted over the tiny island of Rockall, and "possession of the island was taken in the name of Her Majesty".
Leonard had flown his Westland Dragonfly helicopter from the deck of the Royal Navy survey ship Vidal to deposit on the island Lt-Cdr Desmond Scott, Sgt Brian Peel, RM, Corporal AA Fraser, RM, and James Fisher, a civilian naturalist and former Royal Marine.
Rockall, lying in the Atlantic 200 miles west of North Uist, rises sheer to 70ft and measures less than 100ft square; it is frequently washed over by huge waves. Leonard had to hover precisely to land Scott and his men on a ledge 10ft below the summit, the island's only flat feature.
The team cemented a brass plaque on Hall's Ledge (named after Captain Basil Hall, RN, a hydrographer who was the first to land on the island in 1811). Three days later the annexation of Rockall was announced by the Admiralty. Leonard was appointed MBE.
Ronald Leonard, who was born on April 26 1926 at Romford, Essex, joined the Royal Navy in 1944 and was taught to fly in Canada. He flew the Fairey Barracuda dive-bomber in the Far East, but in the postwar years converted to the single-engine Supermarine Walrus air-sea rescue biplane, suffering an engine failure and severe injury in a forced landing. It put him in hospital for some time but did not put him off flying.
Leonard then learned to fly helicopters and served with 848 Naval Air Squadron during the Malayan Emergency. With its 10 Sikorsky S55s, 848 had arrived in the Far East in January 1953. Sceptics thought it would take six months to convert the helicopters from submarine-hunters to troop-carriers, but the squadron was ready within seven weeks. Its pilots pioneered the use of helicopters in short-range transport roles, and during its deployment in Malaya lifted more than 10,000 troops and 200 casualties.
When a helicopter crashed in an inaccessible paddy field in April 1954, Leonard flew to the scene. The wrecked helicopter had to be dismantled, and he winched it in seven separate lifts, each involving protracted hovering while the load was hooked on. The disassembled vehicle was later put back together and flew again. Leonard was awarded a DFC.
Next Leonard commanded 825 Naval Air Squadron, flying the fixed-wing Fairey Gannet in the anti-submarine role (he survived a mid-air collision over Ford, Sussex), then served on the staff of the Joint Services' Amphibious Warfare School. In 1960 he moved to Boscombe Down as a helicopter test pilot.
Leonard conducted auto-hover trials over the reservoirs at Staines. It could, he wrote, be an exciting ride when the equipment malfunctioned, but the only concession to safety concerns was a tin can fitted under the oil breather vent to stop oil dripping into the water supply. He also trialled the Bristol Belvedere, a double-rotor helicopter, which he thought had great potential and was then years in advance of the Chinook.
On the Westland Scout, Leonard explored the "dead man's curve" – the lowest height and speed at which the aircraft could suffer an engine failure and still establish autorotation to land more or less safely. He was awarded an AFC in 1963.
After retiring, Leonard worked for Sperry as a defence adviser, then travelled extensively, particularly in Australia, where he helped friends on their farms.
"Tubby" Leonard, who died on August 24, married Leigh Dean in 1959. She died in 1976, and in 1991 he married Brenda Taylor, who survives him with two children and three stepchildren.
Commander Ronald 'Tubby' Leonard, who has died aged 84, took part in the final territorial expansion of the British Empire and later became a test pilot and the most decorated peacetime pilot in the Fleet Air Arm.
His "land grab" occurred on the morning of September 18 1955, when the Union flag was hoisted over the tiny island of Rockall, and "possession of the island was taken in the name of Her Majesty".
Leonard had flown his Westland Dragonfly helicopter from the deck of the Royal Navy survey ship Vidal to deposit on the island Lt-Cdr Desmond Scott, Sgt Brian Peel, RM, Corporal AA Fraser, RM, and James Fisher, a civilian naturalist and former Royal Marine.
Rockall, lying in the Atlantic 200 miles west of North Uist, rises sheer to 70ft and measures less than 100ft square; it is frequently washed over by huge waves. Leonard had to hover precisely to land Scott and his men on a ledge 10ft below the summit, the island's only flat feature.
The team cemented a brass plaque on Hall's Ledge (named after Captain Basil Hall, RN, a hydrographer who was the first to land on the island in 1811). Three days later the annexation of Rockall was announced by the Admiralty. Leonard was appointed MBE.
Ronald Leonard, who was born on April 26 1926 at Romford, Essex, joined the Royal Navy in 1944 and was taught to fly in Canada. He flew the Fairey Barracuda dive-bomber in the Far East, but in the postwar years converted to the single-engine Supermarine Walrus air-sea rescue biplane, suffering an engine failure and severe injury in a forced landing. It put him in hospital for some time but did not put him off flying.
Leonard then learned to fly helicopters and served with 848 Naval Air Squadron during the Malayan Emergency. With its 10 Sikorsky S55s, 848 had arrived in the Far East in January 1953. Sceptics thought it would take six months to convert the helicopters from submarine-hunters to troop-carriers, but the squadron was ready within seven weeks. Its pilots pioneered the use of helicopters in short-range transport roles, and during its deployment in Malaya lifted more than 10,000 troops and 200 casualties.
When a helicopter crashed in an inaccessible paddy field in April 1954, Leonard flew to the scene. The wrecked helicopter had to be dismantled, and he winched it in seven separate lifts, each involving protracted hovering while the load was hooked on. The disassembled vehicle was later put back together and flew again. Leonard was awarded a DFC.
Next Leonard commanded 825 Naval Air Squadron, flying the fixed-wing Fairey Gannet in the anti-submarine role (he survived a mid-air collision over Ford, Sussex), then served on the staff of the Joint Services' Amphibious Warfare School. In 1960 he moved to Boscombe Down as a helicopter test pilot.
Leonard conducted auto-hover trials over the reservoirs at Staines. It could, he wrote, be an exciting ride when the equipment malfunctioned, but the only concession to safety concerns was a tin can fitted under the oil breather vent to stop oil dripping into the water supply. He also trialled the Bristol Belvedere, a double-rotor helicopter, which he thought had great potential and was then years in advance of the Chinook.
On the Westland Scout, Leonard explored the "dead man's curve" – the lowest height and speed at which the aircraft could suffer an engine failure and still establish autorotation to land more or less safely. He was awarded an AFC in 1963.
After retiring, Leonard worked for Sperry as a defence adviser, then travelled extensively, particularly in Australia, where he helped friends on their farms.
"Tubby" Leonard, who died on August 24, married Leigh Dean in 1959. She died in 1976, and in 1991 he married Brenda Taylor, who survives him with two children and three stepchildren.
Reminds me of the possibly apocryphal British Airways PA by the captain - "those of you on the left of the aircraft can see the island of Rockall, those of you on the right can see something similar...."
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Waragee.
He was a make it happen man typical of the Fleet air Arm at the time. We all owe a debt to his generation - those who experimented operating helicopters and developing techniques which we use everyday now.
He was a make it happen man typical of the Fleet air Arm at the time. We all owe a debt to his generation - those who experimented operating helicopters and developing techniques which we use everyday now.
