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Squadron Leader Anthony James JACOMB-HOOD (135501) DFC
23 Squadron, Royal Air Force Date of birth: 25th July 1921 Date of death: 21st January 1954 Killed on active service aged 32 Buried at St Mary's Church, Slaugham
Anthony James Jacomb-Hood was born at Midhurst in Sussex on the 25th of July 1921 the son of the Reverend Francis Edward Shaw Jacomb-Hood MA, Rector of Slaugham, and Margaret Irene (nee Chilver) Jacomb-Hood, of Slaugham Rectory, Haywards Heath in Sussex. He was educated at Lancing College from January 1935 to April 1939 where he was in Olds House. He was a member of the Squash Team in 1939 and achieved his School Certificate in 1938. He was appointed as a House Captain in 1938. On leaving school he worked as a mechanical engineering student for the Austin Motor Company from 1940 to 1941. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and, after pilot training in Canada, he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 4th of December 1942 and was posted to 47 Squadron. He was promoted to Flying Officer on the 4th of June 1943, to Flight Lieutenant on the 4th of December 1943 and to Squadron Leader on the 4th of December 1944. He saw service in the Middle East where the squadron was equipped with Beaufort aircraft involved in attacks on Axis shipping in the Mediterranean. From January 1945 the squadron was based in India operating Mosquito aircraft, mainly in a ground attack role, attacking Japanese road, river and rail networks in Burma. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross which was announced by the Air Ministry on the 13th of November 1945. From 1945 to 1948 he served with a night fighter squadron and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant on the 1st of May 1947 with seniority from the 4th of December 1943. He was offered a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force with the rank of Flight Lieutenant on the 30th of December 1948. He served in Hong Kong from 1949 to 1951 and was appointed as Chief Ground Instructor to 228 Officer Cadet Unit in 1951. He represented Fighter Command at squash. He was appointed as Commanding Officer of 23 Squadron based at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk in December 1951. In 1953 the squadron re-equipped with the Venom NF2 night fighter and, due to a shortage of ferry pilots, Anthony Jacomb-Hood collected the first aircraft from 48 Maintenance Unit at Hawarden on the 5th of November. On the 21st of January 1954 Anthony Jacomb-Hood took off from RAF Coltishall with navigator, Pilot Officer Arthur Elwyn Osborne, in Venom NF2 WL828 for a weather check sortie. There was low cloud and drizzle when the aircraft was seen to climb and then to dive into the ground from a height of around 600 feet, crashing at West Raynham. The cause of the crash was thought to have been an electrical fault leading to instrument failure. His brother, Captain John Kennedy Jacomb-Hood OL 3rd Battalion 1st King George Vs Own Gurkha Rifles, died of wounds on the 29th of May 1944.

Olds House