• Bristol Blenheim

Date of birth:

April 6th, 1918 (The Rectory/Halfway Tree, Jamaica)

Date of death:

November 14th, 2001 (Hounslow/Greater London, United Kingdom)

Service number:

72507

Nationality:

British

Hugh Verity was educated at Cheltenham and received a short service commission in the RAF after he had served in the University Air Squadron while studying at Queen's College, Oxford.
In September 1940, he was posted at No 608 (reconnaissance) squadron, and five months later to No 252 Squadron, a Bristol Blenheim unit, later Beaufighter, squadron, stationed in Northern Ireland. Here he gained experience in night flying.
Verity joined No. 161 "Special Duties" Squadron in November 1942 as commander of 'A' Flight (6 Lysanders).
He made 29 successful pick-ups during his time with 161 Squadron. The pick-ups he made were all executed alone by night to an agreed field or pasture somewhere in France. The only navigational instrument he had were a staff map and a Michelin road map, a few hand-held torches being his landing guide, held by two or three members of the local resistance.
Later in the war, Verity supervised clandestine air operations in South East Asia and when hostilities ceased arranged the dropping of medical staff to care for PoW's.
Hugh Verity remained in the RAF after the war in various posts and retired in 1965 and joined the Industrial Training Board. In 1978 he published a book about his wartime experiences 'We Landed by Moonlight'.

Promotions:
November 8th, 1938: Pilot Officer
May 8th, 1940: Flying Officer
May 8th, 1941: Flight Lieutenant (war sub)
June 1st, 1942: Squadron Leader (temporary)
May 14th, 1944: Squadron Leader (war sub)
September 1st, 1945: Appointment to commission as Squadron Leader
July 1st, 1951: Wing Commander
July 1st, 1958: Group Captain
June 2nd, 1965: retirement at his own request

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• Photo 1: Musée de la Reddition de Reims (CC Attribution Share Alike 3.0)
• - VERITY, HUGH, We Landed By Moonlight, Crecy Publishing, 1998.
  - Third Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 36027 published on the 21 May 1943
  - Second Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 36152 published on the 27 August 1943
  - Third Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 36329 published on the 11 January 1944
  - Imperial War Museum Collections Online Database
  - The Telegraph - Obituaries
  - Art to Fly - Aviation artwork to get disabled children flying
  - The Second World War Experience Centre