OLD AZURIANS
ASSOCIATION
Wing Commander Henry James (Jim) Cobb DSO, DFC, AFC
Jim Cobb was born in Chelmsford on 31 May 1922 and was educated at WHSB. He enlisted in the RAF at the age of 18 and trained as a pilot, joining 458 Squadron to fly Wellington bombers in September 1941. After taking part in operations in Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean he returned to the UK and, after undergoing specialist anti-shipping training, he joined 524 Squadron in Devon flying Wellington bombers that had been specially modified for attacking E-boats, flying anti-submarine patrols off the coast of Northern France, and shadowing and illuminating enemy coastal shipping to facilitate attack by strike aircraft. This was an increasingly important role as the D-Day invasion approached.
As a result of him taking part in numerous such attacks during 1944 and 1945 he was awarded the DFC in 1944, followed by the DSO in 1946, the citation for the latter reading “His record of courage and flying skill have earned him an outstanding reputation, and he sets a magnificent example.”
After the war, still with the RAF, for a time he flew transport aircraft and then Lancaster bombers on maritime patrol duty before training as a test pilot based at Farnborough where he flew early jet fighters and bombers and was awarded the AFC in 1956.
His varied career continued with involvement in the formation of the Malayan Air Force, another six years as a RAF test pilot at Boscombe Down and again at Farnborough where he tested flying suits and helmets for use in high-flying aircraft.
Even after retirement from the RAF in 1967 he continued his association with aviation into the 1970s by taking on posts relating to national air forces in the Middle East and even learning to fly helicopters for spraying crops in the UK, Africa and the USA.
He died on 22 March 2018 aged 96.