Paddy Harbison Course 60

Fighter pilot in the Second World War and the Korean war. Born April 11, 1922; Died December 25, 2018 (By Alasdair Steven The Herald - February 28, 2019) AIR Vice-Marshal Paddy Harbison, who has died aged 96, saw distinguished service in both the Second World War, where he flew Spitfires and P-51 Mustangs with the RAF, and in Korea, when he adapted to the faster jet fighters with swept wings. Within a decade, the war in the air had been transformed by technology and Harbison was despatched to Korea to advance the RAF’s practical knowledge of air combat with jet fighters. In 1948 he was posted to California on a pilot exchange scheme with the US Air Force and was the first RAF pilot to fly the F-86 Sabre, a versatile, high-tech aircraft that could counter the equally advanced and adaptable Soviet MiG-15 in high-speed dogfights. Harbison’s was an important and sensitive assignment. The UK government was under immense pressure from Washington to give some support to the war. He and four other RAF pilots were sent to Korea in 1952 to evaluate the technological combat tactics of modern air warfare and he reported to the US Fighter Command at Kimpco Air Base, South Korea, and found himself once again flying combat missions. He was credited with damaging a MiG-15 in combat and was awarded the US Air Medal. William Harbison, always affectionately known as ‘Paddy’, was born in Govan, the oldest child of the former Isobel Strachan and William. In his youth his father moved to Ireland and became a police officer in the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Harbison attended Ballymena Academy and joined the RAF in 1941. He did his pilot training with the RAF in Canada then joined 118 Squadron, serving with them throughout the war in Europe. In the last days of the war he led an escort party of more than a hundred Lancaster bombers on a mission to bomb Bremen. While flying over northern Europe the convoy was attacked by 20 Messerschmitt fighters and a dramatic dogfight ensued. Harbison damaged an enemy plane. He faced another hair-raising situation when his Spitfire suffered engine failure over Germany. After dramatic attempts to restart the engine his efforts were rewarded when he calmly operated a hand pump in the cockpit that sprung life back into the engine. After the war, he served with various RAF squadrons and after Staff College in Buckinghamshire was appointed Commander of RAF Leuchars in Fife (1963-65). There, he was much involved in updating the air-sea rescue services and operating helicopters at the base. In 1969 he became director of operations of National Air Traffic Services and for three years was the air attaché in the Embassy in Washington. His last official posting was as Commander of No11 Group RAF, a secretive defence group responsible for the air defence of the UK. He retired from the RAF with the rank of air vice-marshal in 1975 and joined British Aerospace as a vice-president in its Washington office. One of his most prized possessions was his leather-bound logbook – a neatly detailed record of his wartime flights. Harbison often looked at the photographs and remembered colleagues of two wars. Harbison, who was made a CBE in 1965 and a CB in 1977, retained a keen interest in aviation affairs and in motoring. He married Helen Geneva in 1950. They lived in Virginia, California; his wife and their two sons survive him.