Ian MacLeod died on the 18th of May 2016 aged 80.
He will be remembered as a pilot and for his long
service in naval intelligence but most of all for his courage in the face of extreme physical adversity.
Ian being Ian, the start of his naval career had an element
of the extraordinary. He turned up for his Admiralty Interview Board in the uniform of an ordinary seaman, having
already started his period of National Service in the Navy.
After that eye-catching start he joined Dartmouth as an 18
year-old Benbow cadet in September 1953 and serving just the
one term at Dartmouth was then off on the cadet cruise in
HMS TRIUMPH to the West Indies, and thence to Scotland and
Norway.
In September 1954 he was promoted to midshipman, and in HMS
BIRMINGHAM, sailed to Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Mauritius, South Africa and Sierra Leone.
There was a brief stop-over in UK in mid-1955, (in those days the so-called harmony rules were somewhat flexible), and then it was off to the Mediterranean, where at the end of the year he was promoted acting sub lieutenant, was appointed to HMS URANIA – again operating in the Mediterranean – before flying home in April 1956 for the Junior Officers Course at Greenwich.
In a little over 2 years he had sailed the world, missing out only the Americas.
After his year ashore Ian began his sub lieutenant courses and in September 1957 he went back to sea to get his watchkeeping ticket. It was then off to flying training at RAF LINTON-ON-OUSE in 1958. After that the next stage in his flying career
was north to LOSSIEMOUTH for advanced flying training before
front-line service.
Ian’s life defining moment came on 14th May 1960 after he had joined 803 naval air squadron flying Scimitar aircraft.
Ian had been doing deck landing practice in HMS HERMES in Lyme Bay. On returning to YEOVILTON he shut down one engine to conserve fuel and made a single engine approach, but had to overshoot, being too close to the next aircraft ahead. The aircraft failed to gain height or speed and belly landed on the airfield.
Ian suffered severe spinal injuries. Following extensive treatment and recuperation at Stoke Mandeville and Headley Court, Ian was eventually able to walk, but only with great effort and difficulty.
The Navy, to its credit, allowed him to continue to serve
and imaginatively even appointed him as sports officer at
YEOVILTON. His life was further brightened when in 1964 he married Jill.
A recollection of this time by his term-mate Guy Holman was that “during an overnight stop at YEOVILTON he invited a couple of us to join him for a run ashore which was kind as he had wheels in the form of a Mini. Armed with two walking sticks one for the clutch, the other for the faster/slower pedals we set off for an all-together new experience! As you can imagine, much of the drive was conducted with no hands on the wheel, but with great skill and after a jar or two we returned to base unscathed and in high spirits”.
It may be that the sports officer appointment was part of the Navy’s assessment of what to do with Ian. Anyway it was after that the decision was made and he went into “Intelligence” and it is from his successive intelligence appointments that most will remember Ian.
Life again brightened up as Ian, with Jill, was given a married accompanied appointment to Hong Kong, and as is so often the case in such postings, many special close service
friendships developed and which have a special
strength. But it is quite extraordinary the enduring
bonds that were then established, and endure to this
day, by the Navy team in Hong Kong during that period, known as the “Old China Hands”.
The Vietnam War was in full flow, relations with China were
not comfortable so Ian’s work was obviously sensitive.
The Commodore’s Secretary at the time recalls “Ian’s work in Hong Kong was highly secret and matched only by his expenses! It was also interesting that the Hong Kong War Orders were almost exactly a re-run of those that existed for the area in 1941”.
After Hong Kong and foreign service leave Ian and Jill moved to the next Appointment which was at Gibraltar.
In 1975, the Navy, having ensured he had served enough time for achieving a service pension, invalided him and he was then recruited as an RO to serve in the intelligence cell at Fleet HQ at Northwood, where he remained until retirement in 1985.
His close friend from Hong Kong days, Alex Morrice recalls “By happy chance I was also at Northwood for 2 years in the late 70’s, and have one supreme memory of Ian. The Russians had built their first aircraft carrier, and at morning briefing the “Int” people included an assessment with the first air photographs. The exchange went on the lines of – Ian to CINC “we can identify this section as the aircrew cabins”, pointing out some scuttles. Admiral Terry Lewin asked rather warily, “How do we know its aircrew” Ian closed the trap with a smile “Well Admiral, the photograph is timed at 0845 and all the curtains are still closed” That was Ian at his best”.
Giving the Eulogy at a Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving at Taunton, Alex continued, “I want to try to find the words to say how I want to remember him. Ian was a man of conviction, which could border on obstinacy, a man of humour and humanity, a devoted husband, a proud father and grandfather, a staunch friend who was fun to be with”.
“Above all he was an extraordinary example of how moral fibre
and physical courage can overcome the most crushing adversity and disability”.
“I have used the word extraordinary several times in my appreciation. That was deliberate. Ian’s career as a naval officer was extraordinary, and Ian himself was, in all respects, an extraordinary man”.
At the Service Jill was supported by their two sons Andrew and Michael and their daughter Diana.
Very movingly the first verse of the final hymn (Morning has broken) was sung, unaccompanied, by Ian’s young granddaughter Eloise and the Gaelic Blessing closing the well-attended Service was read by his granddaughter Francesca and his grandson Joseph.
AM/PVR