Group Captain Everett Baudoux - Telegraph Group Captain Everett Baudoux, who has died aged 90, completed two operational tours hunting U-boats before becoming the first Canadian pilot to graduate from the Empire Test Pilots' School. On October 25 1940, Baudoux was at the controls of one of three Hudsons operating off the Norwegian coast near Stavanger when a U-boat was spotted. He attacked first, and ten 100lb bombs were released which were seen to straddle the submarine as it opened fire with cannon and machine guns. The Hudson was hit in the fuel tanks and the tailplane, and when Baudoux tried to recover from the dive nothing happened, as the elevator controls had been severed. He managed to level the aircraft using the trim tabs and "gunning" the engine. With a steady loss of fuel and no elevator control, the Hudson made for base, escorted by the others, eventually making a safe landing. At first it was thought that the combined attacks had sunk U-46, but it managed to limp into port – badly damaged – four days later. On November 11 Baudoux was on patrol over the North Sea when he encountered a Wellington bomber which signalled him by lamp: "In distress – short of fuel – how far to land". Baudoux replied: "Follow us", and escorted it to a safe landing at Montrose. Shortly afterwards he was awarded a DFC, his air officer commanding describing him as "an outstanding young pilot whose conduct is exceptional". Everett Large Baudoux was born at Stellarton, Nova Scotia, on January 14 1919 and educated at Pictou Academy and the Nova Scotia Technical School. He started flying when he was 17. In 1938 he applied to join the RCAF, but was told that it could be 18 months before he was accepted. He immediately took advantage of an agreement that allowed men from the Commonwealth to join the RAF, and left for England to start his pilot training early in 1939. He joined No 233 Squadron flying on anti-shipping and anti-submarine operations in the Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic. After completing 92 operational sorties, he was rested to be an instructor. During this time he became one of the first Canadians to ferry an aircraft across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom. In April 1942 he returned to No 233 Squadron and at the age of 23 became its commanding officer. Baudoux flew patrols over the Bay of Biscay seeking the U-boats transiting to the Atlantic from their bases on the French coast. His squadron moved to Gibraltar in June and operated over the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, where the primary aim was to keep supply lines open to Malta and in preparation for Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa. He made two excellent attacks on U-boats, and the citation for his DSO concluded: "This officer has always undertaken the more dangerous and unpleasant tasks, and displayed high courage and unswerving devotion to duty." After returning to England in June 1943, Baudoux was a liaison officer for six months with the United States Navy squadrons operating from an airfield in Devon on anti-submarine patrols over the Bay of Biscay. In March 1944 he joined the second course at the Empire Test Pilots' School, after which he remained on test-flying duties until the end of the war, when he transferred to the RCAF. Soon after returning home, Baudoux became the first Canadian to fly a jet aircraft in Canada when he piloted a Meteor fighter. He commanded various flight test centres, including the Winter Experimental Establishment in Alberta and the Central Experimental and Proving Establishment in Ottawa. He held a senior appointment at the Canadian Armament Development Establishment and, from 1955 to 1959, was chief armament technical officer on the Canadian staff in Washington, where he was also the technical adviser to Canada's ambassador during the first Multinational Allied Disarmament Conference. In 1962 he was appointed Director of Air Defence and Tactical Requirements at Canada's National Defence HQ, with responsibility for formulating requirements for future air defence and tactical fighter aircraft and the associated ground radar control and communications systems. He completed his RCAF service as the commander at the large maritime airfield at Greenwood in Nova Scotia. He was particularly proud to finish his service in the light blue uniform of the RCAF before Canada's three services were amalgamated. During his lifetime in aviation he flew some 140 different aircraft and accumulated more than 8,000 flying hours. On his retirement Baudoux returned to his birthplace, where he led a very active life. He was board chairman of the Nova Scotia division of the Commissionaires and an executive director of the Nova Scotia Housing Commission, where he was instrumental in establishing subsidised housing in the province. He was a champion of veterans, a much sought-after lecturer and served on the Aviation Council of Nova Scotia. Baudoux wrote The Wedge in the Door – Gibraltar 1942, an account of The Rock's role in supplying the Allied campaign in North Africa. Among Baudoux's skills was a gift for tinkering: he built scuba diving gear from aircraft parts, a wind turbine from tin cans and a grain-cleaning machine. Everett Baudoux died on May 27. He married, in 1943, Daphne Gilmour, daughter of Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Bt, who served as British Home Secretary from 1932 to 1935. She died in 2003, and he is survived by a son and a daughter, a second son having predeceased him.
