Air Vice Marshal Hugh Vivian Champion de Crespigny, CB, MC, DFC (8 April 1897[1] – 20 June 1969), often referred to as Vivian Champion de Crespigny,[2] was a Royal Flying Corps pilot who fought in France during the First World War, and senior Royal Air Force officer who commanded British Air Forces in Persia and Iraq during the Second World War.

De Crespigny was born in Brighton, Victoria, the fourth son of Philip Champion de Crespigny (4 January 1850 – 11 March 1927), manager of the Bank of Victoria in Melbourne, and Philip's second wife Sophia Montgomery Grattan née Beggs (1870 – 1936).

He was a leader in the campaign to fly great numbers of children from the devastated regions of Germany to England before the winter of 1945, when it was predicted millions of homeless would die from the cold.

[12] He oversaw relief efforts for the area, much of the population being in a pitiable condition, exacerbated by mass migration from East Germany,[13] and with rising incidence of tuberculosis.

[14] In 1948 De Crespigny was succeeded as commissioner by William Asbury and stayed in Kiel as British consul until 1956.

A brilliant and gallant officer who displays high initiative in night flying, in which service his example has been invaluable to those under his command.

September Major Champion de Crespigny carried out a long distance bombing raid.

Flying a machine unsuitable for night duty, and in face of adverse weather conditions, he reached, and successfully bombed, his objective.