Alan Cheetham was a Midshipman (A) on No. 4 Air Course at 20 ERFTS, Gravesend, starting his ab initio flying training there in 1st May 1939.
Here's his obituary from the Daily Telegraph, dated 30th october 2001:
LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER ALLAN CHEETHAM, who has died aged 83, took part in numerous escape attempts from Colditz Castle during the Second World War. After the fall of France in 1940, Cheetham, a Fleet Air Arm observer with 825 Squadron, embarked in the aircraft carrier Furious for operations off Norway. On September 22, in bad weather, his Swordfish biplane and another aircraft from the squadron ran short of fuel and were forced to land on the island of Leka in the Lofotens off the Norwegian mainland.
The six aircrew commandeered a fishing boat, leaving its owner a promissory note written on a signal pad. (This note turned up in 1945 and the boat's owner was duly compensated for his loss.) Setting off for the Shetlands, their attempt to get home was defeated by a severe gale and they were forced ashore again, only to be captured by German troops. Cheetham and his colleagues were taken to Trondheim, thence to Berlin. A succession of POW camps followed, until an abortive escape attempt from a camp in Poland led to Cheetham's transfer to Colditz.
He soon began planning to escape. In July 1941, he helped to remove part of a brick wall separating the British officers' quarters from German lavatories. Once the coast was clear, Cheetham calmly walked out to enjoy 20 minutes of freedom before being recaptured. Later tunnelling attempts fared no better, each resulting in 28 days solitary confinement. Cheetham also assisted in other people's escape attempts, some of which were successful. Colditz was liberated by American troops in April 1945, and within three days Cheetham was back in England. He was deeply affected by his experiences in the castle for the rest of his life, but, as he later wrote, "counselling was not for us".
Herbert Allenby Cheetham was born at Stockport, on September 21 1917. His father worked for Vickers and while Allan was a young child, the family moved to Wembley. Educated at the local grammar school, he was an accomplished football and cricket player, and was offered a professional contract by Huddersfield Town FC at 16 - only to be prevented by his father from pursuing a sporting career. Unable to afford to go on to higher education, he joined Barclays Bank as a clerk.
Four years later, in 1938, he replied to an advertisement calling for volunteers to go into the Fleet Air Arm. Initial sea training in the old cruiser Frobisher and the carrier Courageous was followed by flying training ashore at Lee-on-Solent. Cheetham qualified as an observer (navigator) in 1939 and was appointed to 825 Squadron, flying Swordfish biplanes. Based in Kent, his squadron operated over the North Sea on anti-submarine and mining duties, and over France, dive-bombing the advancing German army, a role for which the Swordfish was neither designed nor suitable.
After the war, he stayed in the Navy and was appointed to the destroyer Zodiac, then to the shore establishment HMS Mercury. In 1947 he qualified as a communications specialist. After serving in the cruiser Dido, Cheetham was sent to Downing College, Cambridge, for a year to learn Russian, followed by nine months in Paris living with an emigre Russian family.
Having qualified as an interpreter, his remaining career in the Navy included two years based in Kiel, Germany, commanding a signals intelligence unit, several appointments ashore, including GCHQ, service in the Far East on the cruiser Ceylon, and finally intelligence gathering in the Arctic on board the research vessel Discovery. He also wrote the Navy's first Russian service manual. Cheetham retired from the Navy in 1964. In the 1970s he began a second career in business, becoming managing director of Onguard Security, finally retiring in 1987. A cultured and well-read man, he was devoted to family and Service alike and was an unapologetic patriot. He married, in 1948, Vikki Barton, the sister of a fellow POW, Teddy Barton. She died in 1994. He is survived by two sons and a daughter.
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