David Lee (RAF officer)

Air Chief Marshal Sir David John Pryer Lee GBE CB RAF (4 September 1912 – 13 February 2004) was a senior Royal Air Force officer during World War II and a senior commander in the 1950s and early 1960s.

RAF career
Educated at Bedford School, Lee joined the Royal Air Force in 1930. He served in World War II as a pilot with No. 61 Squadron and then with No. 106 Squadron before becoming Deputy Director of Plans at the Air Ministry. He completed his war service as Officer Commanding No. 904 Wing in the Dutch East Indies where he was responsible for repatriating prisoners of war.

After the War he joined the Directing Staff at the RAF Staff College, Bracknell, and was then was appointed Deputy Director, Policy at the Air Ministry before becoming Station Commander at RAF Scampton in 1953. He went on to be Secretary of the Chiefs of Staff Committee in 1956, Air Officer Commanding Air Forces Middle East in 1959 and Commandant of the RAF Staff College in 1962. He last appointments were as Air Member for Personnel in 1965 and UK Military Representative to NATO in 1968 before retiring in 1971.

Family
In 1938 he married Denise Hartoch; they had a son and a daughter.

Books
David Lee wrote a number of books on RAF history:
 * Flight from the Middle East: A history of the Royal Air Force in the Arabian Peninsula and adjacent territories 1945-1972, HMSO 1980
 * Never Stop the Engine when it's Hot, Thomas Harmsworth Publishing 1983
 * Eastward: A history of the Royal Air Force in the Far East 1945-1972, HMSO 1984
 * Wings in the Sun: A history of the Royal Air Force in the Mediterranean 1945-1986, HMSO Books 1989