[1] After flight training with the US Navy at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, he joined Coastal Command to fly anti-submarine missions.
210 Squadron in October 1944,[1] based at Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands, patrolling the Norwegian Sea.
He flew in support of Russian convoys and intercepted German submarines based in Norway.
Flying a Catalina over the North Atlantic, Wakeford detected a submerged German submarine.
Having run out of depth charges, he dropped some sonobuoys to track the U-boat before returning to base in the Shetland Islands.
[1] He was then commander of the Queen's Flight from 1959 to 1961, and was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (4th Class; later retitled as Lieutenant).
He was Director of Service Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence,[1] and was the second commander of the short-lived ANZUK Force, based in Singapore, from 1973 until it was disbanded in January 1975.
[2] He became a Commander of the Order of St John in 1986 and was awarded the inaugural President's Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1987.