Haliday N.A.R. - The OldWinburnians

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Neville Halliday, the son of Lionel Edward and Constance M.T. Halliday, of Liphook, Hampshire, was a Boarder at W.G.S. and thus in School House.
In the Cadet Corps in 1929, he was a First Class Shot.
In 1946 one of the former boarders wrote tributes to some fellow pupils who had shared his youth at W.G.S. He described N.A.R. thus,"...a vociferous, generous-hearted senior boarder, helped many of us in our early days in School House; rather worldly in outlook even when about sixteen, he seemed overnight to graduate from "Paradise" levity to "Monkey Hole" pravity - but that very infectious grin of his remained, as I'm sure it does now." ('Paradise' & 'Monkey Hole' were dormitories).
It is not known when Neville enlisted in the R.A.F. but, he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on 25th July 1931. After flying training, he served in flying boats and in the Spring of 1933, he was at Plymouth in No. 209, (Flying Boat) Squadron when he was shortly expecting to go to Malta. It seems likely that this could have been as a result of his posting to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment where he served until July 1935, when he was selected to specialise in air armament duties. He was appointed armaments officer in September 1936, at an Indian Wing Station and in August 1938, at the Aircraft Depot, India.
Some time in the Spring of 1937, N.A.R was spotted by one of his contemporaries at W.G.S, who was serving in the Royal Navy, when he was playing cricket in Colombo, Ceylon. After the match there was, 'Much talk of old times.' During his service, N.A.R also came across Knights-Whittome, another contemporary at the School, who was two years less in seniority. He was promoted Squadron Leader on December 1st 1938 and Wing Commander on March 1st 1941.
When Neville died, he was the first Commanding Officer of no. 461 Squadron which was formed at RAF Mountbatten, Plymouth on 25th April 1942. Although an RAF Coastal Command unit it was comprised predominantly of Australian personnel. The unit was equipped with Sunderland Mk iii flying boats and its task was to maintain anti-U Boat patrols over the Western Approaches.  As a consequence the crews endured lengthy patrols, both in flying hours and often at a great distance from land. Technical failure, enemy action or the weather, often meant the loss of the aircraft and crew.
Neville has no known grave and he is commemorated on the R.A.F Runnymede Memorial, which overlooks the Thames at Englefield Green, some 4.5 miles from Windsor on the Egham road - the A.308.
In a letter published in the School magazine in the Spring of 1944, one of his contemporaries at W.G.S. who became a Captain, in the R.Eng., wrote of Neville and another that,
"They had the qualities of fine soldiers and leaders, young in those days but since proved beyond doubt." He added, "I eagerly await the coming invasion when the sad fate of these men may be avenged; and, if I could choose a section to land with me at the appointed time, that section would still come from No. 1 tent, at the camp at Kimmeridge, so many years ago."

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