However, young Livock had other ideas,[3] and on 27 October 1914 he was commissioned into the Royal Naval Air Service as a probationary flight sub-lieutenant, and was posted to HMS Pembroke, for duty with the RNAS at Hendon.

[12] Livock was promoted to the temporary rank of major on 23 July 1918,[13] and on 20 September was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

[15] He was then attached to the North Russia Relief Force, flying seaplanes from a base on Lake Onega, during the Russian Civil War,[5] and was again appointed a temporary major between 1 May and 29 June 1919.

[16] Livock was granted a permanent commission in the RAF on 1 August 1919, with the rank of captain,[17] and received his third mention in despatches "for distinguished services overseas" in December 1919.

[20] Livock was transferred to the Care and Maintenance Party at RAF Cattewater on 7 January 1924,[21] then on 21 March to the aircraft/seaplane carrier HMS Pegasus.

[28] Livock was sent out to reconnoitre suitable landing places between India and Australia for another long-distance flight, returning to England in September 1927.

[31] The flight left Singapore on 21 May, flying via Batavia and Surabaya to Kupang in Timor from where on 1 June 1928 they flew to Broome, Western Australia.

An additional flight was then made, calling at Kuching, Manila, and Hong Kong, returning to Singapore via Tourane and Penang.

[37] Livock was promoted to wing commander on 1 July 1933,[38] leaving Wittering on 12 August,[39] and being posted to the Air Staff at Cranwell on 23 October.

[41] In mid-September an attempted flight from Mount Batten to Greenland by two Blackburn Perth flying boats, commanded by Livock, was abandoned after reaching the Faroe Islands because of icing.

10 Flying Training School at RAF Ternhill on 30 November,[46] receiving promotion to group captain on 1 January 1938.

[50] Their son, Pilot Officer William Denzil Livock, RAFVR, was killed in action on 21 December 1944, aged 20, while serving in No.

[55] After playing some Minor Counties Championship matches for Cambridgeshire in 1921,[56] Livock made his first-class debut for Lord Cowdray's XI against the Rest of England in 1923.