Air Vice-Marshal Ronnie Knott - Telegraph Air Vice-Marshal Ronnie Knott, who died on November 29 aged 84, was a successful U-boat hunter whose operations over the Gibraltar Approaches, Bay of Biscay and Western Approaches earned him a DFC and a DSO. Later, in the peacetime RAF, Knott proved himself an exemplary flying instructor, staff officer and station commander; he was awarded an AFC in 1955 and a Bar in 1958. During the war, Knott's Coastal Command squadrons were equipped with two-engine Wellington bombers, which were not the best aircraft for hunting U-boats. However, some of them enjoyed one notable advantage on night operations - the Leigh Light, a powerful airborne searchlight. Serving in No 179 Squadron, operating from Gibraltar against enemy submarines in the approaches to the Mediterranean, Knott had one slung beneath his Wellington's fuselage. Countless hours of searching the ocean below brought fruitful results. "During his present tour of operational duty," the citation for the DFC Knott received in 1944 stated, "this officer has sighted four enemy submarines at night and has made determined attacks at night on three of the U-boats. "On each of these occasions Squadron Leader Knott pressed home his attack in the face of intense fire from the U-boats' guns. This officer has displayed commendable courage and devotion to duty." Although it was never officially confirmed, Knott always believed he had sunk one of the U-boats. Returning home in mid-1944, Knott took over his first command, No 524 Squadron, whose Wellingtons were charged with attacking E-boats (similar to Royal Navy motor torpedo boats) in the Channel before and after the D-Day landings. The citation for the DSO Knott was awarded in 1945 congratulated him on his command of 524. "During the period he has participated in numerous attacks on enemy shipping. In these operations he has displayed the highest standard of skill, courage and leadership, qualities which have contributed in good measure to the successes obtained." The son of a Royal Marine officer, Ronald George Knott was born on December 19 1917. He went to Dunfermline School, Fife, and Borden Grammar School at Sittingbourne, Kent. A good all-rounder at games, he took lessons at the civil flying school at Yatesbury, then was awarded a short service commission. In 1938, Knott joined No 20, an Army Co-operation squadron equipped with Audax biplanes at Miramshah and Peshawar to police India's turbulent North-West Frontier. Knott was posted home in 1943 and joined No 3 Operational Training Unit in preparation for his service in Coastal Command. He was still training when on July 29 1943, his Wellington's engines failed and he was forced to ditch in the North Sea. The aircraft's dinghy shipped water as quickly as Knott could bale it out using his flying boots. After 20 hours he and his crew were picked up by a fishing boat and landed at Swansea. Following operations with 179 and 524 squadrons Knott was rested briefly and then released from the RAF in December 1945, in the rank of acting wing commander. For a time he flew as personal pilot of the chairman of Bata, the international shoe business, before rejoining the RAF in time for the Berlin Airlift. Knott then began to make a name for himself in the realm of flying training. After gaining experience of Meteor and Vampire jet fighters, and having clocked up several years of instructor duties, in 1956 Knott was appointed Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) at the Central Flying School, Little Rissington, Gloucestershire. One particularly hazardous landing he made confirmed that even CFIs can be fallible. Afterwards he was dubbed "the half pint hedge trimmer" and presented with a trophy to match. Air Ministry staff duties, command at RAF Gutersloh in Germany and a spell at Allied 2nd Tactical Air Force followed, until 1963, when Knott returned to Whitehall. As an air commodore in the operational requirements directorate, Knott was burdened with the difficulties which arose from the Labour government's cancellation of the supersonic attack and reconnaissance aircraft TSR 2, which had been showing promise. He derived some consolation, however, from his successful nurturing of Nimrod (a maritime reconnaissance derivative of the Comet, the world's first jet airliner), which remains in squadron operational service. In 1967 Knott was promoted air vice-marshal and appointed Senior Air Staff Officer in Cyprus. Here he was involved with problems associated with Colonel Gadaffi's coup in Libya, and Britain's withdrawal from Aden. He returned to Britain as Air Officer Commanding Administration Headquarters Air Support Command in 1970, and retired two years later. Knott settled in a cottage high on the North Downs, overlooking Charing, in Kent, and embarked on a busy life of vine growing and local activity. As chairman of the Weald of Kent Preservation Society, and later of the South East Transport Forum, he led campaigns aimed at ameliorating the effects of a Channel rail link, and at preventing the construction of a motorway across the Weald. Looking farther afield, he was a contributor to Action Aid, Kenya, supporting six children who grew up in the knowledge of their distant benefactor in England. He also assisted Vietnamese refugees, teaching them English, and to drive, as they began new lives in Britain. Ronnie Knott was appointed CB in 1947. He married, in 1941, Hermione Phayre; they had two sons and a daughter.
