Robert Saundby Air Marshal Sir Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby KCB , KBE , MC , DFC , AFC ( 26 April 1896 – 25 September 1971 ) was an RAF officer whose career spanned both World War I and World War II . He distinguished himself gaining five victories during World War I , and was present during the air battle when Lanoe Hawker was finally shot down and killed by Manfred von Richthofen , the " Red Baron " . He is chiefly remembered for his role as Deputy AOC in C Bomber Command under Sir Arthur ' Bomber ' Harris during the latter part of World War II . World War I . Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby was born on 26 April 1896 . He was the son of Professor Robert Saundby , and was born in Birmingham . He left school in 1913 and joined the Traffic Department of the London and North Western Railway . He joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment , Territorial Force at the outbreak of war in 1914 as a private soldier . Upon completing officer training in June 1915 , he spent time at the front line until January 1916 when he joined the Royal Flying Corps . He became a qualified pilot and joined Britain ' s first single - seater fighter squadron , No . 24 Squadron RFC , in its original complement under famous Major Lanoe Hawker VC , flying the Airco DH2 on the Western Front . His initial successes began on 31 July 1916 ; he drove down a Fokker Eindekker out of control , and was slightly wounded in the process . Saundby transferred from 24 Squadron to 41 Squadron on 26 January 1917 . On 4 March , while flying FE . 8 Serial No . 6431 , he shared a victory over an Albatros . Following this win , he transferred to Home Defense in Britain . By 1917 he was at Orford Ness RFC Experimental Station , England , and on 20 February 1917 he became a Flight Commander , No 11 Training Squadron RFC Scampton . He ended the war in this role . On 17 June 1917 he was flying one of three aircraft , one of 37 Squadron RFC and two others from the Experimental Station that intercepted the Zeppelin L48 after she got lost trying to bomb London . As a result of their attacks , L48 crashed near Theberton . The victory was shared among the three air crews . Saundby not only became an ace with this win , he was awarded the Military Cross . The Inter - War Years . Between 1919 and 1925 , Robert Saundby moved slowly through the ranks of the newly formed RAF , whilst gaining experience of command . Between 1922 and 1925 he served as a Flight Commander in No . 45 Squadron , stationed in Iraq , flying the Vickers Vernon transport aircraft . He flew as co - pilot for the then Squadron Leader Arthur Harris , when the latter developed a locally improvised bombing capability for the Vernon His move towards the upper command ranks of the RAF was initiated when he joined No 58 Squadron as a Flight Commander on 15 October 1926 flying the Vickers Virginia at RAF Worthy Down . His Squadron Commander was Wing - Commander Arthur Harris , and the Squadron concentrated on developing night bombing techniques such as target - marking in their 70 mph machines . The other squadron at Worthy Down at the time , No 7 , was commanded by Wing - Commander Portal , later to become Chief of Air Staff during World War II and the direct superior and sometimes opponent of Harris . After one year , Saundby attended RAF Staff College , Andover , and became an RAF Staff Officer , becoming Deputy Director of Operations in 1937 . World War II . By 1940 , Saundby had become Senior Air Staff Officer ( SASO ) , HQ Bomber Command . He served under Air Marshal Richard Peirse and then became Deputy AOC in C under Harris in 1943 . He was a supporter of the strategy of area bombing against German civil population and he very much became a right - hand man for Harris throughout the remainder of the war . On behalf of Harris he elected 94 German towns which were " fitted " for carpet bombing and gave codenames to each of them known as ' Fish code ' ; for example Nuremberg was codenamed Grayling and Berlin was Whitebait . It is thought that he chose this coding because he was a keen fly fisherman . He retired on medical grounds from the RAF on 22 March 1946 . He was awarded the Order of Leopold II with Palme and Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palme , Commander class for services in the liberation of Belgium . Retirement . He devoted much of his retirement to his role as Vice - Chairman , Council of Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association , for which he was awarded his KCB . He had many hobbies , and wrote several books on differing subjects including his role in the RAF during the war ( " Air Bombardment , The Story of its Development " , " How the Bomber and the Missile Brought the Third Dimension to Warfare " ) and Steam Engines ( " Early British Steam 1825 - 1925 The First 100 Years " ) . He lived at Burghclere in Hampshire where he died on 25 September 1971 .