GarryNeuhaus77 at 21:20, 3 May 2026

2026-05-03T21:20:48Z

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{{Short description|Royal Air Force officer (1906-1988)}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Andrew James Wray Geddes
|image=
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption=
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{Birth date|df=yes|1906|07|31}}
|birth_place= [[Belgaum]], India
|death_date= {{Death date and age|df=yes|1988|12|15|1906|07|31}}
|death_place= [[Eastbourne]], Sussex, England
|burial_place=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[British Army]] [[Royal Air Force]]
|service_years= 1926–1954
|rank= [[Air Commodore]]
|service_number= 25011
|unit=
|commands= [[No. 2 Squadron RAF]] No 4 Flight Training School
|battles= [[Second World War]]
|awards= [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Distinguished Service Order]] [[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2) [[Commander of the Legion of Merit]] (United States)
|relations=
|other_work=
}}
[[Air Commodore]] '''Andrew James Wray Geddes''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|CBE|DSO}} (31 July 1906 – 15 December 1988)<ref name="rafweb"/> was the senior [[Royal Air Force]] officer during the [[Second World War]] who led the planning for [[Operations Manna and Chowhound|Operation Manna]], the air drop of food supplies to the starving population of the Netherlands.<ref name="rafweb">{{cite web|url=http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Geddes.htm |title=Air Commodore A J W Geddes |website=Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation |accessdate=16 August 2013}}</ref>

==Early life==
Geddes was born in [[Belgaum]], India,<ref>India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947</ref> the son of Major Malcolm Henry Burdett Geddes, an [[Indian Army]] officer. He soon returned to England with his mother and much later graduated from the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich|Royal Military Academy]] in [[Woolwich]] and joined the [[Royal Artillery]] in 1926.

==Military career==
Geddes began his military career in the [[British Army]] before being seconded to the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) in 1928. He trained at [[RAF Sealand]] before joining [[No. 4 Squadron RAF]] at [[RAF Farnborough]] flying the [[Bristol F.2 Fighter]] and later the [[Armstrong Whitworth Atlas]].

In 1932, Geddes rejoined the Royal Artillery but was again seconded to the RAF in 1935, this time as a [[Flight Commander]] with [[No. 2 Squadron RAF]] at [[RAF Manston]]. By 1938, Geddes was the squadron commander.

===Second World War===
Geddes spent all of the Second World War attached to the RAF, although retained his army commission, in the Royal Artillery. (He relinquished his army commission in 1946, with effect from 1 September 1945.)

In 1939–1942, Geddes was commanding officer of [[No. 2 Squadron RAF]], an [[army co-operation]] unit. He was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] in the [[1941 New Year Honours]]. In 1942, Geddes was appointed commander of [[No. 35 Wing RAF]] and to the headquarters staff of [[RAF Army Cooperation Command]].

Promoted to the substantiative rank of major on 3 February 1943, Geddes was in charge of operations and planning for [[Second Tactical Air Force]], from 1 April 1943 until [[VE Day]]. The RAF made him an acting air commodore on 1 June 1943, and he was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]] in June 1943.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=36051|date=8 June 1943 |page=2678|supp=y}}</ref>

Geddes had an active role in the planning of [[Operation Overlord]], the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Shortly after the landing on 6 June 1944, Geddes flew a photoreconnaissance [[North American P-51|Mustang]] over the invasion beaches, taking some of the first pictures of the invasion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafmarham/aboutus/iiacsqnhistoryww2.cfm |title=RAF Marham – II (AC) Squadron History – WWII |publisher=Raf.mod.uk |date=28 February 2012 |accessdate=16 August 2013}}</ref> He was [[Mentioned in Despatches]] on 1 January 1945.

In early 1945, Geddes was responsible for the organising of [[Operations Manna and Chowhound]]; the dropping of food and other essentials to the starving Dutch population still in the occupied areas of the Netherlands. The first food drops began on 29 April 1945, even though no formal treaty had been signed between the Allies and Germans. That day over 240 [[Avro Lancaster|Lancaster]]s flew at low level to drop 535 tons of food at six designated places in the west of the Netherlands agreed with Germans. In case the Allies were trying to use the drop for military purposes (for example dropping paratroopers or arms for partisans), the Germans sent anti-aircraft guns to four of the locations. Local Dutch organising committees then set up a plan to collect the air drops and distribute the food.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/artefact-month/operation-manna |title=Operation 'Manna' |website=Tangmere Museum |date=April 2009 |accessdate=16 August 2013}}</ref>

Geddes was again Mentioned in Despatches, on 14 June 1945, granted a Commander of the United States [[Legion of Merit]] in October 1945,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37300|date=5 October 1945 |page=4957|supp=y}}</ref> and advanced to [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in the [[1946 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37407|date=28 December 1945 |page=33}}</ref>

==Post military career==
[[File:Rotterdam monument operatie manna.jpg|thumb|Operation Manna monument on the Air Commodore Geddespath in Rotterdam]]
Geddes retired from the RAF on 29 September 1954 with the rank of [[air commodore]] and worked in local government.

The road "Air Commodore Geddespad" in [[Rotterdam]] was named after him.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geddes, Andrew James Wray}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force air commodores]]
[[Category:Royal Field Artillery officers]]
[[Category:20th-century British Army personnel]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force pilots of World War II]]
[[Category:British people in British India]]

Andrew James Wray Geddes - Revision history

GarryNeuhaus77 at 21:20, 3 May 2026