The Airmen's Stories - P/O G E Morris

Geoffrey Edward Morris was born on Boaz Island, Bermuda on 22nd April 1917. He completed his education at Westminster City School in 1934 and was then employed as a bank clerk in London.

In March 1939 Morris joined the RAFVR for aircrew duties as an observer. Called to full-time service on 2nd September 1939, he completed his training on 7th April 1940 and was commissioned.

On the 16th Morris joined the newly-formed Fighter Interception Unit at Tangmere. Its function was to investigate all the capabilities of Airborne Radar for the interception of hostile aircraft at night and to devise the most effective tactical use of the equipment.

L to R: Sgt. RH Leyland, Sgt. EW Lesk, P/O GE Morris, F/Lt. G Ashfield, unknown, Sgt. EF Le Conte at FIU Ford.

It was the unit's first successful interception which proved the success of FIU and also the potential of AI equipment. An official report stated:

The initial problems were many and varied and at times progress seemed desperately slow, but on the night of 23rd July (1940) a Blenheim of FIU took off from Tangmere and shot down a Dornier 17z into the sea, having intercepted it and gained a visual sighting of it by use of airborne radar. This was the first time that such a feat had been accomplished. The names of F/O Ashfield, the pilot, and his two AI operators, P/O Morris and Sgt. Leyland, will never be found among the lists of the famous and yet what they did that night had a greater effect on the future of air warfare than anything else that occurred in the whole of that summer.

In September 1941 Morris went to 60 OTU East Fortune as an instructor. He was posted to Kenley in 1943 for operational control duties and later commanded the GCI stations at Sandwich and Wartling.

Morris was awarded a Permanent Commission in September 1945. He served at AHQ Palestine from 1947 until May 1948, when the British Mandate ended. He held various staff appointments until 1968 and his final posting was as OC RAF West Drayton.

On 29th May 1970 Morris retired from the RAF as a Wing Commander.

He died in 2010.