In common with many 1,000’s of other Persons leaving the Services at the end of WW2, Tom Jefferson had to decide how he was going to make a Living. With his Dynamic Personality & Charm & in particular, his Ability to conduct Business negotiations during ‘a Right Old Session‘, Tom soon carved out a Lucrative Future. But before this, he had a surprise Visit from an old 18-Squadron Colleague & Veteran of the Rotterdam Raid of 16th July 1941, John Stewart-Wood (on the Raid John Stewart Wood, without the hyphen!).
Tom Explains:
‘After I came out of the Air Force, I lived for a while at a place called Askett, near Monks Risborough, and somehow or other, Stewart Wood found me. He rang me up and I went out to see him. Now, he had a brother on Blenheims, who was Killed, and this Rocked Stewart. His parents had had a Farm, at a local place called Ford, in the Triangle Princes Risborough, Aylesbury, Haddenham or Thame. So Stewart Wood took over the Property from his Parents, and he went into Mushroom Growing in quite a Big Way. He built lots of Wooden Buildings and brought in a Steam Plant to Sterilise the Soil, and so on. His Business was called Aylesbury Mushrooms Ltd (Closed 2003). He had Vehicles taking them up to London every day. He had his own Aircraft, which he Flew around, and he wanted me to go into a Joint Venture with him, and have an Aircraft between us. Well, he was going all over the place, and at that time, I was only going to the Continent, so it didn’t quite work out. He had these daughters, one of whom became a British Champion of, I think, Water-skiing. We met quite a number of times, but he became bigger & bigger in Mushrooms, and I was in a different Business altogether, so we never did join in sharing an Aircraft, but that was Stewart Wood! I recognised him as soon as I saw him!’
John Stewart-Wood took part in the Annual King’s Cup Air Race for 30-yrs, winning it in 1965 & 1978. He was Killed at Shobdon Airfield, near Hereford, while taking part in this Race, on Saturday 16th July 1983 – the exact Anniversary of the Rotterdam Raid.
Before describing Tom Jefferson’s very successful Business Ventures, I should explain why it has been difficult on occasion to Pinpoint exactly when Tom’s Operations took place. No Pilot, or any other Aircrew Member, would like this to happen to him, and it still made Tom rightfully Angry when he told me what had happened.
Tom Recalls: ‘When I came out of the Service, and lived at Chinnor, in one of the Bedrooms there was a Big Cupboard: and on top of it, I put a lot of things, including my Logbooks. They were Stolen! By this time, I had 2-Logbooks bound together with a great big wide Rubber Band, so it was like a Double Logbook. In Chinnor, there was a Flight Lieutenant, whose Brother was a Local Builder, who I employed to do some work on my House. Now, this Flight Lieutenant was a Bullshitter – he would go into the Local Pub, and play Darts, and Brag about what he did in the Old Squadron – all this sort of Chat – really not my Cup of Tea. Because I don’t think he did anything in the War! It was only after the Builders had gone that I found quite a lot of things missing, including my Logbooks. So I got hold of this Officer, and said, hey look, I’m not accusing anyone, but since the Builders have finished in my House, my Logbooks and a number of other things have gone, so you’d better do something about it! He didn’t. The only alternative was to go to the Police, but I didn’t want to say that I suspected a Flight Lieutenant for having my Logbooks. It’s worried me all the time since, because there’s so much detail in your Logbooks. I have, fortunately, got this list which Ralph made out, in his own handwriting & we can look at that.‘ Ralph Millns, Tom’s Observer, kept a List of all the Operations & Flights that they did together on Blenheims, which Tom Wrote up later – especially after his Detachment to Malta, during which the Transit Baggage Weight for the Legs via Gibraltar had to be kept to a minimum, thus precluding the taking out of Logbooks. Somewhere out there in Chinnor, someone has got Stolen Property – Tom’s Logbooks. They might not be aware that this is Stolen Property. May I request that, if they read this, and are in possession of these Books, then please contact us and we will donate them to the RAF Museum, where future Generations will have the pleasure of perusing the Wartime Career of one of our Great RAF Heroes. I asked Tom if he could remember how many Flying Hours he had clocked up before he gave up Flying soon after the War. He thought the figure would be somewhere between 7,750 & 8,000 Flying Hours! This is an impressive Total for a Flying Career spanning a little over 10-yrs. Of course, Flying several times a day, every single day for a year or so when he was on the BAT Flight must have contributed a large chunk of this! Without being able to check Tom’s Assessments of Flying Ability in his Logbooks, I would be very surprised if they were not at least ‘Above the Average‘, and more probably ‘Exceptional‘. Perhaps the last word on this should be by Tom’s WOp/AG on Blenheims, Scotty Scotney:
‘We always felt that he was a very good Pilot – nice Chap – we got on very well as a Crew. Very Efficient; very Competent, but it wasn’t for me to Judge his Capability as a Pilot – but I felt very safe being Flown by him.‘
Tom’s Post-war Business Career would make an interesting Book on its own! His Acumen would make modern Entrepreneurs go Green with Envy! I shall summarise this as briefly as I can. Initially, Tom Built up a Trailer & Caravan Manufacturing Business (Travelmaster) with another Wartime Colleague, his old CO on No.105 Squadron – Group Captain Keith J ‘Slim’ Somerville – before Developing his own Industrial Property Company, British European Finance Ltd. He was Chairman of the National Caravan Council between 1963 & 1965.
Tom Jefferson also had Addresses in Chinnor, Askett & Princes Risborough (Picts Lane c.1961-64). Tom’s Parents-in-law, Mr & Mrs Scrutton also lived in Princes Risborough (Poppy Road) apparently a lovely old couple. Tom & Keith James ‘Slim’ Somerville (b.1920~d.2004) a Group Captain in the RAF a fellow Pathfinder & Mosquito Pilot. During 1938 Somerville Trained as a Pilot at the Civil Flying School at Hamble before entering the RAF at the end of the year. His colleagues dubbed him “Slim”, after a Hollywood Actor George J (Slim) Somerville of that Period, and the Nickname stuck with him for the remainder of his Life. They became Partners in Travelmaster a Caravan Manufacturing Company, based in Princes Risborough, which Somerville managed for 22-yrs. The Company Developed into a flourishing Business selling Mobile Homes to many Overseas Countries.
Tom Explains: ‘So I formed a Finance Company, and the Finance Company then took over all sorts of other Companies. I could not be someone who would sit around and just Tinker & Play with things. If you’re in, you’ve got to really do it – take it by the Horns – and you really have a Go, and you Beat everyone else. You just can’t sit around and wait for something to happen. You’d either be right in, or you wouldn’t start in the First Place. So I Built this Finance Business up, and in the end, I was doing all sorts of things – Building Factory Estates: there’s a Factory Estate at Thame, and there’s a Road there which the Council have called Jefferson Way. So I did all this and then eventually Sold out, and came here to Guernsey in 1982.’ Tom added that he moved here for Tax reasons! Jefferson Way remains something of a Monument & Memorial to his Gargantuan Efforts
Work, Hard & Play Hard. Tom and his wife, Audrey, loved to go on Cruising Holidays.
Tom recalls one in particular: ‘Well, we went on a Cruise, which went down to Venezuela and up the Orinoco & Amazon Jungle a few years ago [1993 Interview]. Then we came back and stayed at this place called Antigua Village – in Antigua (Antigua Village set along the White Sands of Dickenson Bay, St John’s Parish) – and quite by chance, over a Drink one night, I met a Chap called Ned Fennessy [Radar Pioneer Sir Edward Fennessy, Retired RAF Group Captain]. Now, as you know, I was Flying on Oboe & Ned Fennessy was one of the Scientists, one of the Boffins, who was Developing it.
Later, he became Postmaster General, and he was Knighted. We still call him Ned and we’re still in close touch with him & his charming wife. [Sir Edward Fennessy died on 20th January 2010, aged 97], but in the meantime, he was into all sorts of Big Jobs – he was Managing Director for Plessey and I forget who else, but we met in Antigua, and he’d got an Apartment there, in a Villa, or part of a Villa and his daughter had another part of it. While we were chatting over a Drink one night, I bought his daughter’s Apartment, because she was then married & living in America, and didn’t want it – she hadn’t been there for years! So we have been going back & forth to Antigua for a while. Funny how these things happen! If I hadn’t met Ned Fennessy, and he hadn’t been Developing Oboe, when I was Flying Oboe, I wouldn’t have had a place in Antigua!’
At one time, after I had heard most of Tom’s amazing reminiscences, I said to him: ‘What amazing good luck you had in your Life, Tom!’ His reply made me smile: ‘Well, Rusty, not so much Good Luck but Lack of bad luck!‘, but his luck ran out on the afternoon of 27th November 1999, when Tom departed for that Great Hangar in the Sky.
By sheer coincidence, my good friend from Oxford Air Training School, Don Briggs DFC – a Wartime Lancaster Veteran – had asked me if I would like to share a Flight from Oxford in a Piper PA.28 Cherokee, that same Afternoon. It was the 1st time that I had Flown since retiring, from FR Aviation Hurn, in August 1998. Shortly after Take-off, in G-BPJP, with my wife Carol on board, we Flew overhead Oakley disused Airfield. I related to Don the incredible Story of Tom ‘s Forced Landing there, in Zero Visibility conditions. Tom died within minutes of my telling that Story.
Wing Commander Thomas George Jefferson will be missed by many people. He was extremely Sociable, and not only to us. After Retiring to Guernsey in 1982, he kept in touch with the RAF, becoming a member of the RAFA, and making many friends with Members of the Modern Royal Air Force – particularly Guernsey’s Affiliated 201-Squadron, based in Kinloss. The Squadron had visited the Island regularly and were lavishly entertained by Tom, along with an impressive array of Air Marshals & Local Dignitaries, during Battle of Britain Week. There was no finer place to Watch the Air Display than Tom’s lovely House, in an Elevated position on an old Napoleonic Fort in St Peter Port. Every September the Channel Islands are treated to a splendid Royal Air Force Flying Display to commemorate the Battle of Britain. In Guernsey, it takes place just off Castle Cornet. Many types of Aircraft take part and in particular, we all love to see the Spitfire, Hurricane & Lancaster from WW2; Guaranteed to inspire another nostalgic meander.
He raised considerable Funds for the RAFA. Tom was one of the most Charismatic persons I have met in my Life. Carol and I formed a deep friendship with him and his very pleasant wife, Audrey. I can rarely sink a glass of Whisky, particularly Bell’s, without thinking of him. When the National Weather Forecast shows Stornoway, I always think of that intrepid ‘Officer at the Bar‘!
Wing Commander T G 'Jeff' Jefferson, DSO AFC AE 