My father-in-law, Harry Studwell, who has died aged 93, spent almost his entire career as an engineer in the RAF, retiring as a wing commander before moving into the private sector with an engineering firm.
Harry was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, the eldest of five sons of Hilda (nee Ballard), a barmaid, and Harry Studwell, a labourer and gardener. He went to Portsmouth North grammar school, leaving school at 14 to work as a labourer and then painter and decorator.
Reaching the age of 18 in 1946, he did his national service at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire and enjoyed his time in the services, returning to his previous work until, in 1953, he decided that he wanted to rejoin the RAF. Quickly impressing with his sharp mind, aptitude for engineering and natural air of authority, he moved rapidly through the ranks. Within five years he had received the British Empire Medal for outstanding service and in 1959 he was commissioned as an officer.
Harry was posted to Aden during the conflict there between 1964 and 1966, leading a team of engineers who were tasked with keeping RAF combat and supply aeroplanes airworthy, often working in dangerous conditions.
At various points thereafter he worked at RAF stations in Benson (Oxfordshire), Northwood (Middlesex), High Wycombe (Buckinghamshire), Upavon (Wiltshire) and Stafford (where he became a wing commander in 1979), before ending his career back in High Wycombe.
After leaving the RAF, Harry joined the engineering company Airworks, for whom he worked for the Sultan of Oman’s air force, and was soon promoted to a senior management position in Salalah, remaining there until full retirement in 1986 and a return to the UK to live in Witney in Oxfordshire.
A generous man with a ready wit and keen sense of humour, Harry always declined to join any ex-servicemen’s organisations, and rarely spoke of his RAF years unless prompted. He wanted to look forwards, not backwards, and did not want to join the ranks of the “When I…s”, as he called them.
In later life he put his considerable energies into his new passions of gardening, golf and croquet. He was also an active member of the Witney Probus Club.
Harry’s wife, Barbara (nee Miller), a nurse and primary school teacher, whom he married in 1959, died in 2011. The following year he was diagnosed with vascular dementia and subsequently was looked after by his daughters, Elisabeth and Catherine, before moving to St Catherine’s View care home in Winchester.
He is survived by his daughters and by his granddaughters, Charlotte, Madeleine and Lucy.
