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Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Gordon Beavis, KCB, CBE, AFC (13 August 1929 – 7 June 2020) was a Royal Air Force officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Support Command from 1981 to 1984.

RAF career

Educated at Kilburn Grammar School, Beavis joined the Royal Air Force in 1947 and was commissioned two years later. In June 1961 Beavis set the record for the fastest non-stop flight from the UK to Australia which he established by flying a Vulcan from RAF Scampton to RAAF Richmond in just over 20 hours.

He became Officer Commanding No. 10 Squadron flying VC10s in 1966 and Group Captain Flying at RAF Akrotiri in 1968. He was appointed Assistant Director of Defence Policy at the Ministry of Defence in 1971, Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters RAF Germany in 1976 and Director General of RAF Training in 1977. He went on to be Commandant of the RAF Staff College, Bracknell in 1980, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Support Command in 1981 and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Central Europe in 1984 before retiring in 1987.

Family

In 1949 he married Joy Marion Jones; they had one son and one daughter. He died in Cyprus on 7 June 2020.

References

1. ^ Parker, Jonathan (1994). People of Today. London: Debrett's Peerage. ISBN 978-1-870520-19-5. OCLC 1064338279.
2. "Qantas flies London-Sydney non-stop". Flight International. 26 August 1989. p. 8. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. The Qantas flight challenges the non-stop UK-Sydney record set by Air Chief Marshall Sir Michael Beavis, RAF, who flew an Avro Vulcan from RAF Scampton to RAAF Richmond (40 miles west of Sydney). The Vulcan flew further, was mid-air-refuelled four times, but was 6min quicker. Beavis tells Flight: "I am delighted that Qantas made it, but pleased that we keep the time record".
3. Pathé, British (1961). "Vulcan's Wonder Record". Pathé News. Sydney. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
4. Weightman, Flt/Lt Gary (February 2000). "No. 214 (Federated Malay States) Squadron Royal Air Force; First Contacts!; Part: 9; Valiant Efforts". Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2021. On the 20th June 1961 nine Valiant tankers of 214 Sqn deployed to Cyprus, Pakistan and Singapore to support the record flight from Scampton to Sydney by a 617 Sqn Vulcan flown by Sqn Ldr Michael Beavis.
5. Booth, Lawrence (15 April 2021). The Shorter Wisden 2021: The Best Writing from Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2021. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4729-8815-7.
6. Force V: The history of Britain's airborne deterrent, by Andrew Brookes. Jane's Publishing Co Ltd; First Edition 1 Jan. 1982, ISBN 0710602383, p.142.
7. "BEAVIS - Deaths Announcements - Telegraph Announcements". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
8. "Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Beavis obituary". The Times. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2021. Michael Gordon Beavis was born in Kilburn, north London, in 1929, the only child of Walter Beavis, who worked in the post room of a nearby factory, and his wife, Mary (née Sarjantson), who was of Dutch origin and was housekeeper for a local family before working in a munitions factory during the war. He recalled at the age of seven being taken for a picnic near an aerodrome. When a biplane flew low overhead he declared: "That's what I want to do."

• 1929 births
• 2020 deaths
• Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• People educated at Kilburn Grammar School
• Royal Air Force air marshals
• Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
• Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)