Lt Cdr J.S. Bailey OBE RN

Lt Cdr Bailey joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1938, and began his operational career flying Albacores over the English Channel in 1941. He scored a probable victory over a BF109 in the raid on Kirkenes, flying in an 827Sqn Albacore from HMS Victorious.

He became the C/O of 827Sqn in 1943, the first Squadron to receive the Fairey Barracuda. He became C/O of 768 Deck Landing Tarining School. Machrihanish in June 1943. Became C/O of 815 Barracuda Sqn at Machrihanish in 1945.

When he set down a Seafire 17 on the deck of HMS Illustrious on May 24^th 1950 he created what constituted at the time a world record for deck landings, 2000 in all with 19 different types of aircraft.