Nigel Norman Air Commodore Sir Henry " Nigel " St Valery Norman , 2nd Baronet , CBE , RAF ( 21 May 1897 – 19 May 1943 ) was a consulting civil engineer and Royal Air Force officer during the first half of the 20th century . Early years . Nigel Norman was the only child of journalist and travel writer Henry Norman , and Ménie Muriel Dowie . Following officer training at the Royal Military College Sandhurst , he served as a subaltern with the Royal Garrison Artillery during World War I . He later transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals . In 1926 , Norman married Patricia Moyra , eldest daughter of the late Lt . Col . J . H . A . Annesley . During that year , Norman volunteered for reserve service as a pilot with No . 601 ( County of London ) Squadron in the Auxiliary Air Force , and he later assumed duties as a flight commander . Professional life . In 1928 , Norman co - founded Airwork Services with Alan Muntz . In 1929 , the company opened Heston Aerodrome that was active in private , commercial and military aviation until closure in 1947 . In 1931 , he was appointed Officer Commanding of No . 601 Squadron . In 1934 , he transferred to the Auxiliary Air Force Reserve of Officers in the rank of squadron leader . He later commanded No . 110 Army Co - operation Wing based at RAF Ringway . In 1935 , in partnership with architect Graham Dawbarn , Norman founded the consultancy firm of Norman and Dawbarn , responsible for designs of buildings and lay - outs of many municipal airports in the UK and overseas , including those at Gatwick , Birmingham , Ringway , Jersey , and Guernsey . In 1939 , Norman succeeded to the title 2nd Baronet of Honeyhanger . World War II . In 1940 , Norman commanded the Central Landing Establishment based at RAF Ringway . From the early days of World War II , he worked in close collaboration with the British Army on developing airborne troops . Norman controlled the air side of the first British paratroop raid on Italy shortly it after entered the war . He not only arranged all the details , but took a personal interest in all the numerous training exercises before the raid , and accompanied the paratroops on the expedition , returning regretfully , he said , in an aircraft , as he was not at that time a proficient parachutist . When he got back , he went on a parachute course . He distinguished himself in Operation Biting , the raid by British parachute troops on the coast of northern France in March 1942 , when the radio location post at Bruneval , 12 miles north of Le Havre , was destroyed . It was a combined operation , the carrying force of R . A . F . bombers under Norman ' s command and led by Wing Commander P . C . Pickard . His final appointment came in 1942 , when he was appointed Air Officer Commanding No . 38 Wing . On 19 May 1943 , Norman died in the post - crash fire when the Lockheed Hudson IIIA ( FH168 ) that was to carry him to North Africa force - landed after take off from RAF St Mawgan . Postscript . Norman was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society , a member of the Aviation Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce , and a member of the Council of the Air Registration Board , of which body he was also chairman of the Design and Construction Panel . Norman ' s eldest of three sons was Mark Annesley , born on 8 February 1927 , who succeeded him as third baronet . Mark Norman worked for Bristol Siddeley Engines as company secretary . Nigel Norman ' s second son was Desmond Norman co - founder of the aircraft manufacturer Britten Norman . Torquil Norman , third of Sir Nigel ' s sons founded Bluebird Toys and the Roundhouse Trust .