# William Jason Maxwell Borthwick

William Jason Maxwell Borthwick (1 November 1910 – 15 January 1998)
William Jason Maxwell Borthwick usually went by his middle name of Jason. He was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1933 and was entitled to practise as a barrister. During the Second World War, he gained the rank of commander in the service of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC).

## Career highlights

Commander Jason Borthwick was a director of naval fighter aircraft, whose captain did not speak to him for a year until he won a DSC. He pioneered Naval Fighter Direction, the science of interpreting radar screens so as to send fighters out on the right bearing, at the correct height, and with enough time to intercept incoming enemy aircraft. He served in HMS Victorious during Operation Pedestal, and on Admiral Ramsay's staff for the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944. He was Chief Instructor of the Fighter Direction School, and organised fighter direction in Indian Ocean operations, including the invasion of Rangoon in May 1945.

## Development of fighter direction

Fighter direction was developed during the Second World War: the concept of the control and direction of Naval fighter aircraft from their parent Aircraft carrier had not been conceived prior to 1935. In the second half of 1942, working in the Home Fleet in the Navy's only operational radar-fitted Fleet carrier, Jason Borthwick in HMS Victorious was mastering the art of intercepting long-range Focke-Wulf Fw 200 aircraft. These attacked convoys far out in the Atlantic, in conditions of cloud and visibility very different from those prevailing in the Mediterranean. He operated in a corner of the plotting office with a homemade plotting board, portable R/T set and an array of voice pipes. He was assisted by one untrained plotter. At first he had an uphill task establishing his position in a big ship's hierarchy, but continuing success brought status. A year later he had his own Fighter Direction Office, a Fighter Direction Officer as Filter Officer with two plotters, two Intercept Officers with and intercept plot each, and a third intercept for Borthwick to use in emergency. He sat at a dais with room for the Fleet Direction Officer beside him.
HMS Victorious was then chosen as flagship for Operation Pedestal in August 1942, being a no-holds-barred attempt to relieve the island of Malta. Apart from her experience against FW 200 long-range reconnaissance aircraft in the Atlantic, she had previously covered Malta convoys as part of Force H, based at Gibraltar. At that time, HMS Victorious had the best Fighter Direction Office in the Fleet. The operation led to the most intense sea-air battle against the Luftwaffe yet seen, and the first full-scale test of the recent improvements in the Royal Navy's fighter direction.
C-in-C Home Fleet regarded the Victorious Fighter Direction Office as a showpiece for VIP visitors. On one occasion the Prime Minister climbed into Borthwick's high chair at the dais, which had been unscrewed from the desk for maintenance. The chair tilted forward, and only a quick grab of each arm by C-in-C and the Fighter Direction Officer saved Churchill from a dive. These VIP visits helped Borthwick to obtain hardware and, above all, good officers.

## Daily Telegraph Obituary

Director of naval fighter aircraft whose captain did not speak to him for a year, until he won a DSC
COMMANDER JASON BORTHWICK, who has died aged 87, pioneered Naval Fighter Direction, the science of interpreting radar screens so as to send fighters out on the right bearing, at the correct height, and with enough time to intercept incoming enemy aircraft.
When, in September 1941, Borthwick joined one of the earliest courses at HMS Heron, the Royal Naval Air Station at Yeovilton, Somerset, fighter direction was in its infancy, and much of the training equipment improvised. For "aircraft", the fledgling Fighter Defence Officers (FDOs) used commandeered Stop-Me-and-Buy-One ice cream tricycles which were pedalled around the airfield by Wrens who could not see where they were going and were directed to "intercept" on earphones.
When they qualified, Borthwick's coursemates, known as the Famous Five — all five had been to Cambridge and were expert dinghy sailors — were appointed to aircraft carriers. Some were coolly received, both because they were RNVR and because fighter direction was still virtually unknown in the fleet. Borthwick went to Victorious, whose captain did not speak to him for a year.
Borthwick had an uphill task to establish himself in the ship's hierarchy. He worked in a corner of the plotting office, with a homemade plotting table, a portable radio-telephone set, and an array of voice pipes. He had asked for a telephone line to the radar office, but the captain wrote on his request: "Voice pipes are quicker and more efficient."
But Borthwick and the other FDOs quickly gained the confidence of the fleet fighter pilots, who grew used to the sound of "their" FDOs' voices over the radio.
Within a year, Borthwick had his own Fighter Direction Office, with his own staff of intercept officers and plotters. Victorious wore the flag of the Rear Admiral Aircraft Carriers Home Fleet for the Malta convoy Pedestal, one of the most spectacular operations of the war at sea.
On 10 August 1942, 14 merchant ships, among them the tanker Ohio, headed eastward through the Straits of Gibraltar, escorted by the battleships Nelson and the carriers Eagle, Indomitable and Victorious (and Furious, with Spitfires for Malta), seven cruisers, and 32 destroyers. During Pedestal's hectic passage, nine of the merchantmen were sunk. Also lost were the cruisers Manchester and Cairo, and the destroyer Foresight.
Of the carriers, Eagle was sunk by a U-boat and Indomitable suffered three heavy bomb hits which put her flight deck out of action, so the main burden of the convoy's fighter defence was borne by Victorious with the help of "orphans" from the other two carriers.
Borthwick and his staff handled the fighters with great skill over a very tense period of some days, generally managing to maintain Combat Air Patrols (CAPs) from dawn to dusk, despite losses. For his part in Pedestal, Borthwick was awarded the DSC, one of the earliest fighter direction honours of the war. His captain spoke to him for the first time to congratulate him.
William Jason Maxwell Borthwick was born on 1 November 1910. From Winchester he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read law (three of the Famous Five went to Trinity). He was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 1933, but joined his family firm of Thomas Borthwick and Sons, meat importers, in 1934 and travelled extensively to Australia and New Zealand.
Borthwick had joined the RNVR before the war, but his membership lapsed during his travels. When he applied to rejoin in 1939, he was told he was too old for a commission. He did not want to join on the lower deck because, as a barrister he "would be shunted aside into some routine job, probably in the Admiralty." He therefore joined the River Fire Service and spent the severe winter of 1939-40 skippering a launch on the Thames.
Early in 1940, Borthwick heard about a new Admiralty order that holders of the old Board of Trade Yachtmaster's Ticket could be interviewed for a commission. He sat the examination, got his ticket, and was commissioned later that year.
After a short course at HMS Osprey, the anti-submarine school at Portland, he joined HM Tug Bedfordshire, as first lieutenant, carrying out anti-submarine patrols from Swansea.
He then served as first lieutenant of HM Tug Angle, escorting convoys to Iceland, before volunteering for fighter direction. He stayed in Victorious after Pedestal, and directed the ship's fighters in Operation Torch, the landings in North Africa in 1942. From Victorious, Borthwick returned to Yeovilton as chief instructor of the Fighter Direction School. His students were young officers who could not navigate themselves, let alone direct others. The course that Borthwick introduced laid the foundations of fighter direction technique for the rest of the war.
By now one of the Navy's experts on fighter direction, Borthwick served on Admiral Ramsay's staff for the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944.
He then went out to the Far East with the rank of Commander, joining the Naval Air Commander, East Indies, to organise fighter direction in Indian Ocean operations. These included Dracula, the invasion of Rangoon in May 1945.
Borthwick rejoined the family firm in 1946 and was a director for 30 years. At home in Norfolk, he was chairman of Brancaster Parish Council and Commodore of Brancaster Staithe Sailing Club. In 1966 he won the Jollyboat world championship, held at Brancaster Staithe Sailing Club.
He was a director of International Commodities Clearing House Ltd, a member of the Central Council of Physical Recreation, and chairman of the National Sailing Centre at Cowes. He was a life member of the Wardroom Mess HMS Dryad.
At Winchester and later, Jason Borthwick built boats, carved furniture, and manufactured radio sets. In 1925, he and another boy made one of the first television sets. "Admittedly," he said, "it only transmitted a picture from one end of a long bench to another, but it was television."
He married, in 1937, Elizabeth ("Spud") Elworthy, who died in 1978. They had a son, Alister Borthwick, and three daughters.