601 (County of London) Squadron in the Auxiliary Air Force, and he later assumed duties as a flight commander.

From the early days of the Second World War, 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 after it 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.

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.

On 19 May 1943, Norman died in the post-crash fire when Lockheed Hudson IIIA FH168 that was to carry him to North Africa force-landed after takeoff from RAF St Eval.