The Association has learned of the death of Cdr Nicholas Henry Kerr RN (Nick) on 19 May 2013 at home in Bristol. He leaves a widow, Sue.
From Records
1960 – 196 892 NAS
1962 – 1963 AWI 890 NAS
1964 – 1966 AWI 8 RAF Sqn
1967 – 1968 Senior Pilot 893 NAS
1969 – 1970 Senior Pilot 767 NAS
1970 – 1972 Commanding Officer 892 NAS
Funeral Details for Nicholas Henry Kerr 30th June 1936 – 19th May 2013
Thursday 30th May 2013 at 12.30pm at Woodlands Cemetery, Earthcott Rd, Alveston, Bristol BS35 3TA
tel: 01454 414 999 Website with maps and directions.
Tom Cridland writes:
‘As fellow AWIs I have always admired and respected Nick for his amazing action packed career both as an extremely competent pilot and later in life on his boat.
Entering Dartmouth, first as a ‘Pusser’ cadet, then in true Nick fashion swapped to the Seaman branch and then went on to train as an aviator. He flew virtually every All Weather Fighter the RN posted and squeezed in a Hunter exchange with 8 Squadron, RAF in Aden, where he promptly married the Wing Commander Tech’s daughter Sue. At the end of the tour they drove a VW estate back to the UK ending up in Somerset where they settled into the village of Pitney.
There followed numerous Carrier tours in the Far East including a return to Aden where the Radfan had flared up again.
He then moved on to the F4 Phantom, becoming CO of 892 Squadron and returned to sea on Ark Royal. Whilst on board, off the coast of Malta, he was sitting on the catapult, about to be launched and as the ship turned into wind, making all the appropriate noises and signals, she chopped a fair amount from the stern of a shadowing Russian Destroyer who came too close. Sir Raymond Lygo was Ark Royal’s Captain at the time!
With plenty of hours under his belt, Nick was appointed to the RM Commando Brigade based at Stonehouse barracks in Plymouth. By this time Camilla and Melissa completed the family picture and his next appointment took them to Norfolk, Virginia, on the staff of SACLANT. Later he completed a year’s course at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
After that it was back home to be the Training Commander at HMS Raleigh and they bought a house virtually on the water in Millbrook. His next appointment was in Wales as Queens Harbor Master in Pembroke Dock. This was followed by a move to the FCO as Naval Attaché based in the Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia but also had accreditation to North Yemen and Bahrain.
Retirement followed to end of at times an incredible career. He and Sue settled in Clifton Bristol but again in true Nick fashion he enrolled at the University of Bristol where he achieved a degree in Ancient Mediterranean History and Archaeology. From his boat based in Turkey he enjoyed visiting many of the sites in person.
Itchy feet took him on many trips abroad, skiing in the States and to visit family and friends in Australia and New Zealand. There were politics as well but enough said, my typing finger is getting sore.’
Keith Brown writes
I had long known Nick Kerr by reputation but only met him when I returned from Miramar in 1968 (some months before TOPGUN became flesh) to reunite with various others, who had also been with the USN on Phantom business in a variety of roles, including the late, lamented Peter MARSHALL, who became the boss in 767 Squadron.
Nick arrived from 893 as our first candidate for conversion to the Phantom F4k, while I, with the assistance of other Miramar graduates, wrestled with the course syllabus. When he and several others completed the course ,Nick became the Senior Pilot of 767 and we shared an office for the next two years. Anyone who met him will attest that he was a considerable physical presence with a personality to boot and rough good humour which swiftly blended a disparate collection into one whole. He had the greater width of flying experience which was mostly front line, while fate decreed that mine was gathered largely in the training environments of 766 and VF 121, USNA MIRAMAR.
We seemed to form an effective partnership, sadly when our paths diverged after 767, me to go back to fish heading, and Nick to command 892, I only heard of Nick through these pages until his broadside with Phantom Phlying in May 2012, to which I made response( 6g dogfights ? not me chief) in May 2012. Lost contact – my loss.