Raymond Baxter OBE

I’m not sure how I missed this on the news (almost a month ago) but I found out yesterday about the death of Raymond Baxter OBE. Probably best known for presenting Tomorrow’s World and his motorsport commentary, I’ll always remember him from the tales of his participation in World War II whilst flying spitfires, and the fact that he was the person commentating on the first ever Concorde flight. Baxter was born in Ilford, Essex on 25th January, 1922. He joined the RAF in 1940 and spent most of his time in service flying the Spitfire. He started flying coastal patrols from Scotland, but was soon posted to North Africa and took part in the invasion of Sicily. During this campaign he was involved in a serious crash but walked away unharmed, earning him a mention in despatches. During his time recovering in North Africa he also carried out some flying instruction, from Cairo, and later in India. He attained the rank of Squadron Leader before he left the service in 1945.

It’s a sad thing that yet another of the spitfire heroes has now passed on, and with their decreasing numbers I’m happy to say that I’ve met a few and listened eagerly to their stories of wartime flying. Unfortunately Raymond was one that I never had the good fortune to meet, but I know from other sources that he was a true gentleman, and epitomised everything that the RAF stood for during World War II.

Baxter died on September 15th, aged 84, and is survived by his son and daughter.