Group Captain Eric Lake

Adrian Roberts · Aug 31, 2009

Eric Lake had an interesting career and a lucky escape in the war. Obviously he loved flying; despite training as a Flight Engineer, he stayed in the RAF and became a glider pilot and PPL.

CXX - have you heard of him? Not 120 sqdn, but certainly a Liberator man.

Does anyone know of books written by his aviation historian son?

Group Captain Eric Lake - Telegraph

Group Captain Eric Lake, who has died aged 86, served in Coastal Command during the Second World War and in the postwar years completed two tours of duty with the Queen's Flight.

Lake volunteered for flying duties in 1942 and was selected for the new aircrew duty of flight engineer. With the introduction of the long-range anti-submarine aircraft, a need had arisen for a specialist engineer to assist the pilot.

After completing a short training course, Lake joined No 206 Squadron, equipped with the Liberator, and flew anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic. In 1944 he took part in the round-the-clock Channel watch during the invasion of Normandy, a complex operation which successfully prevented any U-boats interfering with the armada of Allied shipping.

With the loss of the French ports, the U-boats retreated to the Baltic and Scandinavia, and No 206 moved to Scotland. On November 15 1944 Lake and his crew were on patrol off Bergen when their aircraft was attacked by three German Messerschmitt Bf 110s, and a running battle ensued that involved nine separate, co-ordinated attacks by the fighters.

One was shot down, but the Liberator suffered extensive damage, including the loss of two engines and the hydraulic and electrical systems. To keep the aircraft airborne it was necessary to reduce weight and jettison all loose items. With the release system damaged, the depth charges could not be dropped, so Lake went into the bomb bay and prodded them clear.

He then returned to his station and skilfully nursed the two serviceable engines to allow the pilot to make a wheels-up crash landing at an airfield in the Shetlands. The pilot was awarded a DFC.

During the last few days of the European war, Germany's remaining U-boats tried to escape to Norway. Lake and his crew intercepted a new Type 23 U-boat (U-2326) on the last day of the war and ordered it to surrender. When it refused, a stick of depth charges was dropped ahead of the submarine. This was sufficient incentive, and the Liberator escorted the U-boat to Dundee.

The son of a Derbyshire lead miner who had won an MM with the Royal Engineers during the Great War, Eric Edward Lake was born in York on February 3 1923. He was educated at the city's grammar school and joined the RAF in 1942.

After his war service, Lake remained in the RAF and flew trooping flights to the RAF's stations worldwide on Liberator and York aircraft. After a period at Farnborough on the experimental weapons flight, he joined the King's Flight (the Queen's Flight after the death of George VI in 1952), which was operating the Viking. As well as most members of the British royal family, Lake's passengers included King Feisal of Iraq and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

After serving at the RAF Technical College at Henlow and in Singapore, Lake returned to the Queen's Flight in 1963 as senior engineering officer when it was operating the Heron aircraft and the Whirlwind helicopter.

Within a year he had to oversee the engineering task for the replacement of the Heron with the Hawker Siddeley Andover and the introduction of a more powerful version of the Whirlwind.

Lake left the Flight after three years, and was appointed MVO. He commanded the engineering wing at RAF Wildenrath, one of the RAF's major bases in Germany and the home of two Canberra squadrons. After service at the MoD, he was promoted to group captain to be senior training officer and commanding officer of No 1 School of Technical Training at Halton. He was also appointed an ADC to the Queen.

After retiring from the RAF in 1978, Lake worked for the Engineering Industry Training Board, where he particularly encouraged women in the engineering profession.

In 1996 he was invited to the Russian Embassy, where the ambassador presented him with the 40th and 50th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-45 commemorative medals "in recognition of air operations in support of the Arctic Convoys to Russia".

Lake enjoyed flying his own light aircraft, and was a gliding instructor and tug pilot at the RAF Gliding and Soaring Association. He was a keen military historian. A generous man who remained young at heart, he decided at the age of 80 to learn to play the piano, enrolling in a class for young children. To improve his playing he chose to have an operation on his right hand to increase its flexibility, and he subsequently became an accomplished pianist.

Eric Lake died on July 24. He married, in 1947, Pam Bacon, who died in 1985. Their son, an aviation historian and author, survives him.
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Antipodean Andy · Aug 31, 2009

His son is Jon Lake? Jon Lake - Authors - Random House

A long career and doing what he loved in work and retirement. RIP.

liverpool annie · Sep 1, 2009

Following after Andy ... I found this snippet ...

Jon Lake is one of Britain's leading aviation journalists/historians, and secretary of the Freelance Aviation Journalists' Association. He has written a range of books for Osprey, including the well-received Combat Aircraft volumes on the Blenheim and the Halifax
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Annie

liverpool annie · Sep 1, 2009

I wonder if Eric Lake brought my POWs home ??

With the end of the War in Europe, No 206 was tasked with the transport of freight to India and then returning home ex-POWs from the Far East until disbanded in April 1946
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