COMMANDER Peter Bramley REYNOLDS OBE, RN
The following is an extract of the eulogy given by Alan HENSHER at Peter’s funeral at Brighton on 13 December 2011.
‘I have known my friend Peter for over 70 years. We met first in 1942 joining the Royal Naval College Dartmouth (he had won a scholarship), served together as Midshipmen in HMS Nigeria based in South Africa in 1946/7, started flying training in 1950 and have remained in touch ever since.
Left to him, this tribute would be a very brief affair – no fuss, don’t ‘go on’ and all such adjuration to British restraint was very much his style. But, his life was rich in achievement with a great variety of activities and quite simply is not amenable to the short sharp treatment that I feel sure he would have recommended. He had a strong and genial personality and with his young bride (they married in 1950) Tessa was undoubtedly his greatest asset, they were an attractive and popular young couple.
After completing training as a FAA pilot he joined a front line squadron operating from HMS Ocean in the Korean war giving close air support to the army. Subsequently he converted to jets, trained as a night fighter pilot and embarked in an aircraft carrier for a front line tour. Next came a seminal event when he was accepted for the prestigious Empire Test Pilots Course at Farnborough. He tested all the then current naval fast jets SEA VIXEN, BUCCANEER. He commanded 766 a SEA VIXEN squadron and created a formation aerobatics team that became well known as Fred’s Five.
On promotion to Commander he was given command of a squadron of coastal mine sweeper patrol vessels based in Singapore. He was in the MoD involved in some of the early staff work associated with the Jump Jet Carriers, Ark Royal and Illustrious. His appointment as Naval Attaché in Lisbon was a welcome change of pace and environment. Finally he went to Lee on the Solent in command of the Naval Hovercraft Trials Unit for which work he was awarded the OBE.
Quite a range of activity and covering a span of over thirty years. It is not easy to sum up a man’s life in a few minutes but I am going to link Peter and Tessa as a two people who were totally devoted and drew strength from each other. They were a wonderful partnership and one shared by Jocelyn, Anna and the grandchildren. They will wish to be remembered by us with a smile.’
Added by John de Winton
I too remember Pete with a smile. I met him first in Sept ’60 when I was lent to 890 squadron in Hermes to make up Vixen pilot numbers for ex Swordthrust. Pete was SP and a major “player”, professionally and at the bar, in what was a strong bunch. His nonchalance and unflappability was most evident. Then as CO of 766, he led Fred’s Five. Others will be better qualified than me to tell stories about that great team and it was most impressive to watch. Some have observed that it got even better after lunch!.
I remember standing near the rounddown of Vic in Singapore Dockyard in Sep ’63, looking down at HMS Houghton, behind us, where Pete was in the process of relieving the CO. He was relieving Cdr Staveley and those of us who knew both, were thinking that it was a coming together of the opposites. Apparantly the turnover had been planned to perfection and intricate detail. This was clearly satisfying for the departing CO but was not altogether to the liking of the arriving CO, who just wanted to get the hell on with it and be given the keys to the bar.
After Houghton, Pete was Cdr (Air) at Lossie. In Oct ’65, I was CO 801 when we commissioned the first MK 2 Buccaneer Squadron. FONAC, VA Smeeton had flown up in the barge for the commissioning and there was a party in the wardroom that evening. Fairly late on in the evening, Pete had the bright idea of giving FONAC a fly past next morning as he boarded the barge and an aerial escort away from Lossie. He said he would lead in a Hunter and asked me to produce a “2” and the CO’s of the other squadrons to produce a “1”, a Scimitar and a Hunter. The briefing, at the bar, was uncomplicated and was “to meet over Milltown at 2000ft at 0930”. This we duly did and after a flypast over the barge we formated close round the barge as it climbed away to the south. I can still see Lady Smeeton waving out of the window, but am not sure if it wasn’t to try to get us to move a bit further away! From Lossie, Pete was appointed to Vic as Cdr (Air), but sadly lost the job when Vic had the fire in Portsnouth and was decommissioned. This was a bitter blow and instead he went to DNOR in 1968, a difficult time for fixed wing aviators. I became his appointer from late ’69 and had the difficult task of finding him a decent job when he was very sadly passed over for promotion. However, I got him the Hovercraft job, in ’71, in which he excelled and thoroughly enjoyed.