William Stratton (RNZAF officer)

Air Vice Marshal William Hector Stratton, CB, CBE, DFC & Bar (22 July 1916 – 27 December 2005) was a New Zealand aviator and military leader during the Second World War and the postwar period.

Born in Hastings, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1937 and served as a fighter pilot in the Second World War, initially with No.

Born on 22 July 1916 in Hastings in New Zealand,[1] William Hector Stratton was interested in flying from an early age.

1 Squadron was mobilised for war and shortly after the declaration of hostilities on 3 September 1939, it went to Octeville in France as part of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

[6] On 29 March, he shared in the destruction of a Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter when the section that he was part of encountered nine of the German aircraft to the northeast of Metz.

[1] Stratton did not participate in the Battle of Britain, being instead posted to Rhodesia as an instructor under the Empire Air Training Scheme.

[1][14] In recognition of his "gallantry in flying operations"[17] while in the Middle East and in India, he was awarded a bar to his DFC, the citation noting that he had destroyed four enemy aircraft.

[18] Stratton's short service commission in the RAF had ended at the start of the year and by this time he had formally transferred to the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).

[1][10] He spent three years in Australia as the head of the New Zealand joint services liaison staff before taking up a post as Group Captain, Operations at the headquarters of the RNZAF in Wellington.

[19] Appointed Assistant Chief of the Air Staff in 1961, the following year Stratton led an evaluation team to the United States to assess aircraft suitable for replacing the obsolete Short Sunderland flying boats that served the RNZAF in a maritime reconnaissance role.

He concluded that the Lockheed P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft was the best for the task and these were duly purchased after he persuaded his superior, Air Vice Marshal Ian Morrison, of the type's merits.

[25] He formally retired from the RNZAF on 1 November 1971 as an air vice marshal, his term as CAS having ended a few months prior.