Cathcart Wight - Boycott Air Commodore Cathcart Michael Wight - Boycott CBE DSO and bar Master of Arts , RAF R ’ td ( 18 August 1910 – December 1998 ) was a British fighter pilot during the Second World War and a senior Royal Air Force officer during the post - war years . As an Air Commodore in 1961 Wight - Boycott became the 10th Commandant Royal Observer Corps . Early life . Wight - Boycott attended Clare College at Cambridge University where he joined the Cambridge University Air Squadron that was based at RAF Duxford and learned to fly in 1930 . After leaving university he joined the Metropolitan Police as a non - uniformed civilian administrator . In September 1937 Wight - Boycott joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve as a Pilot Officer in his spare time and undertook advanced combat training on Hawker Hurricane s . He was promoted to Flying Officer in the RAFVR before enlisting on a short service commission in the RAF at the start of the Second World War in September 1939 . Service history . Royal Air Force . After joining the RAF he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and his first posting was as a QFI at No . 1 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School , Hatfield where he remained until May 1941 . He was sent on a course at No . 54 Operational Training Unit before receiving a combat posting as a fighter pilot with No . 219 Squadron RAF . In July 1941 he was promoted again to Acting Squadron Leader and appointed as flight commander of ‘ B ’ flight . In September 1942 his rank of Squadron Leader having been made substantive he was promoted to Acting Wing Commander and posted to RAF West Malling as Officer Commanding No . 29 Squadron RAF flying Bristol Beaufighter s . Between December 1942 and January 1943 he took the additional temporary role of Station Commander at West Malling . In February 1943 , he was reverted to Squadron Leader ( War Substantive ) before he was posted in to No . 81 Group RAF as a headquarters staff officer . In July that year Wight - Boycott returned to operational flying as an Acting Wing Commander and Officer Commanding No . 9 Group RAF . In the September he was appointed Officer Commanding No . 25 Squadron RAF flying de Havilland Mosquito s . Wight - Boycott finished the air war with a score of seven aircraft destroyed , two damaged and two V - 1 flying bomb s shot down and destroyed . In September 1944 Wight - Boycott was posted as a Headquarters Staff Officer with No . 12 Group RAF but only a few months later moved to an appointment as Station Commander of RAF Church Fenton . In early 1945 he moved , again as Station Commander , to RAF Molesworth home of the USAF 303rd Bombardment Group and remained there until September when he attended a ‘ ’ Methods of Instruction ’ ’ course at the RAF Senior Staff College . Following his course he became an instructor at the RAF ’ s Officers ’ Advanced Training School . As the war ended Wight - Boycott was confirmed as a permanent commission officer in the substantive rank of Squadron Leader . In July 1947 he was promoted to Wing Commander with seniority and pay backdated to October 1946 . In February 1948 he was posted as the Air Staff Officer at Headquarters , RAF Middle East . He returned to the UK in 1950 on the staff at Headquarters Southern Sector , Fighter Command at RAF Colerne . Promoted to Group Captain in July 1952 he took up the appointment of Station Commander at Colerne where remained until 1954 when he became a QFI at the RAF Flying College , RAF Manby in Lincolnshire . In April 1955 he was posted to RAF Luqa as Senior Air Staff Officer ( SASO ) at Air Headquarters Malta . On 13 January 1958 he was appointed the RAF ’ s " Director of Operational Requirements ( A ) " , moving sideways as " Director of Organisation / Logistics ( Forecasting and Planning ) " in September that year . Royal Observer Corps . On 1 July 1958 Wight - Boycott received his final promotion to Air Commodore and was appointed as the tenth Commandant of the Royal Observer Corps , taking over from Air Commodore J M Warfield . He had taken over the ROC at a crucial time in its development , as the building programme of 1 , 500 underground monitoring posts and 31 operational group controls , to provide protected accommodation during nuclear warfare , had just started all over the UK . As Commandant , Wight - Boycott found himself travelling the country to perform endless opening ceremonies as each new Group Control bunker was commissioned and declared operational . In the course of the massive consolidation of the organisation nine previous ROC groups were disestablished and closed . Some spare time observers were able to transfer to nearby groups but many others , together with the groups ' civilian staffs , found that their services were no longer required and they were stood down . The professional wholetime officers from the closed group headquarters were declared supernumerary , redesignated as " Mobile Training Officers " and spent the next few years moving from group to group covering holiday and illness absences by other officers . The arrangement continued until natural wastage had reduced the cadre back to the new manning levels . In July 1961 Wight - Boycott presented a Royal Observer Corps long - service medal to the Battle of Britain Class locomotive " Royal Observer Corps " that had started its service with the Great Western Railway company in December 1948 . The ceremony took place at Waterloo Station . The locomotive ' s cab was repainted with a representation of the medal and its ribbon and displayed it until the engine was withdrawn from service and broken up in the late 1960s . Following the engine ' s break up its original nameplate and front badge were recovered and displayed in the entrance hall of Headquarters ROC at RAF Bentley Priory , until 1996 when it was transferred to the RAF Museum . On 3 June 1964 Air Commodore Wight - Boycott retired from the RAF and handed over command of the Corps to Air Commodore J H Greswell . Retired appointment . Following his retirement from active service in 1964 Wight - Boycott remained in uniform as a retired ' C ' class status Senior Staff Officer in charge of flying training at the Headquarters of the Air Cadets . Wight - Boycott ' s son also served in the RAF and is recorded as being a Group Captain and serving as Regional Commandant of Scotland and Northern Ireland ATC .