IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Wheeler, N
Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London
Title: WHEELER, ACM Sir Henry Neil George (b 1917)
Date(s): 1939-1991
Level of description: Collection level
Extent: 4 files and 1 album or 0.02m3
Name of creator(s): Wheeler | Sir | Henry Neil George | b 1917 | Knight | Air Chief Marshal x Wheeler | Neil
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
ACM Sir Neil Wheeler was born 1917; educated St Helens College, Hants; Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, 1935; Bomber Command, 1937-1940; Fighter and Coastal Commands, 1940-1945; Royal Air Force and US Army Staff Colleges, 1934-1944; Cabinet Office, 1944-1945; Directing Staff, Royal Air Force Staff College, 1945-1946; Far East Air Force, 1947-1949; Directing Staff, Joint Services Staff College, 1949-1951; Bomber Command, 1951-1953; Air Ministry, 1953-1957; Assistant Commandant, Royal Air Force College, 1957-1959; Officer Commanding, RAF Laarbruch, 1959-1960; Imperial Defence College, 1961; Ministry of Defence, 1961-1963; Senior Air Staff Officer, Headquarters, RAF Germany, 1963-1966; Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Operational Requirements), Ministry of Defence, 1966-1967; Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, 1967-1968; Commander, Far East Air Force, 1969-1970; Air Member for Supply and Organisation, Ministry of Defence, 1970-1973; Controller, Aircraft, Ministry of Defence Procurement Executive; 1973-1975; retired 1975.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of ACM Sir Neil Wheeler including training account, report, press cuttings and photographs, 1939-1991, notably a comprehensive report on the Royal Air Force Operations in Malaya, June 1948-March 1949, produced by Air Headquarters, Royal Air Force Malaya, May 1949; text for talk by Wheeler on early aerial photographic reconnaissance, delivered at a Royal Air Force Historical Society seminar, 1991; undated detailed account of training for, planning and leading wing strikes against shipping convoys, 1942-1943. Cutting of article 'Cameramen of the Air: Photographing bomb damage - vital work of RAF PRU'S (Photographic Reconnaissance Units)', from The Times, 1 Sept 1943. Printed maps of Norwegian, English, French and German coastlines, [1942], with handwritten annotations. Album of Photographic Reconnaissance Unit photographs, 1940-1941, many with captions, showing locations in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway including: Brest harbour; anti-aircraft fire over Cherbourg; Morlaix; Brest; Chateau Bougon Aerodrome, Nantes; Nantes; St Nazaire; La Rochelle; La Pallice; Rochefort; Bordeaux; Dunkirk, showing wrecks on beaches; Le Havre; Zeebrugge; Boulogne; railway yards near Calais; Vlissingen Aerodrome; Antwerp; Ter Neuzen; Flushing; St Inglevert Aerodrome; Knickerbein W/T beam stations; Amsterdam; Ijmuiden; Gravelines; the Nordzee Canal; Caen; Schipol aerodrome; Stavanger; Bergen; Egersund Port; convoys in the Skaggerak area; Herlö-Herdla Aerodrome; Lista aerodrome; Kiel; Bremerhaven; Brunsbuttel; Wilhelmshaven; The Hague; Dieppe; Rotterdam; Poix Aerodrome; Ostend; also photograph of shelling damage in Guernica, Spain, 2 Jun 1941; photograph of office showing maps and operations board for 8 Apr 1941; printed map with drawn annotations showing the ranges in nautical miles of medium range, long range, super long range and extra super long range Spitfires from Wick, St Eval and Heston. Loose photographs, 1939-1943, many with captions, showing: aircraft including a Maryland, a Swordfish, a Hawker Fury and a Heyford; Wheeler and colleagues at airfields in Wick, Scotland and St Eual, Cornwall, 1941; Wheeler and aircrew of 236 Squadron, 1943. Also painting of the insignia of 236 Squadron.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Four files arranged in sections as above and one oversized photograph album.
Conditions governing access:
In order to view archive material you will need to sign a reader's undertaking form and provide two forms of identification.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archives and Information Management.
Finding aids:
No additional finding aids are available.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Presented to the Centre by ACM Sir Neil Wheeler, May 2004.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Compiled by Katharine Higgon.
Date(s) of descriptions: Oct 2007