Prickett: he summarised Suez as 'a monumental political cock-up', and feared that history would repeat itself in Iraq

Bomber pilot whose planning role during the Suez crisis left him
                        scornful of his political masters.

AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR THOMAS PRICKETT, who has died aged 96, distinguished himself as a bomber pilot during the Second World War and later played a prominent role in the air planning for Operation Musketeer, the ill-fated Suez operation of 1956.

In July of that year Prickett was attending the Imperial Defence College when he and two colleagues were suddenly sent to the air ministry to form the planning staff for the Allied Air Task Force for Operation Musketeer.

In great secrecy they took over a basement office in the ministry, earning the nickname "the troglodytes".   Prickett was appointed chief of staff to the air commander, Air Marshal Denis Barnett.   From the outset, Prickett and his colleagues found themselves working in a vacuum, with no clear idea of the political aim.   At the insistence of the prime minister, Anthony Eden, and the Foreign Office, many senior officers were kept in the dark, severely hampering military planning.

Prickett and his colleagues spent three months devising air plans and aiming to simplify the unnecessarily complex command structure - which Prickett described as being like something out of Alice in Wunderkind.

In September Prickett moved to Episkopi, in Cyprus, to prepare the air planning cell.   He had much sympathy for the resident headquarters staff and their commander-in-chief, who had been sidelined throughout the planning phase.   As for the Suez operation itself, he was adamant that politics continually interfered with the detailed conduct of the military action.   While he praised the British military effort and the excellent cooperation of the French air staff, he summarised the event as a "monumental political cock-up".

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph in September 2002, Prickett detected similarities between Suez and the situation in Iraq.   He concluded his letter with the words: "The present crisis has all the ingredients of confused and conflicting political and military aims.   Is history about to repeat itself?"

Thomas Öthere Prickett was born at Lindfield, Sussex, on July 31 1913 and educated at Haileybury.   From 1932 he spent five years in India working on sugar estates with Begg Sutherland, first as an assistant and later as manager.   During this period he also served as a trooper with the Bihar Light Horse, of the Indian Army (Auxiliary).

In October 1937 Prickett joined the RAF and trained as a pilot.   Assessed as above average, he was immediately selected to be a flying instructor, a role he fulfilled for the next three years, first in England and then in Southern Rhodesia.   Anxious to fly operations, he got himself sent to Egypt where in 1941 he joined No 148 Squadron flying Wellington bombers.

Prickett flew on his first bombing operation a few days after joining the squadron, when he attacked Benghazi, a target that would become very familiar to him.   Over the next few months the fortunes of the hard-pressed British and Allied forces fluctuated greatly as they strove to meet the many demands placed on them.   The ill-equipped bomber squadrons of the Desert Air Force were there to provide support.

Flying from forward landing grounds, Prickett and his crews attacked enemy ports, supply depots and airfields in North Africa.   In November and December 1941 No 148 was ordered to support British forces in Greece, and Prickett dropped supplies on Crete and twice bombed Piraeus.   In March 1942 the squadron was diverted to support the British evacuation from the Aegean, and he bombed the airfields on Crete that had just been occupied by the Germans.

The following month Prickett led a small detachment to Malta, from where they attacked the airfields in Sicily.   After returning to the desert, he flew more operations and, after completing his thirty-second and final one on July 13, he was awarded a DFC.

Prickett then spent six months in the United States as a senior flying instructor at No 5 British Flying Training School based at Cleweston, Florida.   Then, in April 1943, he returned to operational flying, joining No 103 Squadron as a flight commander.   After just one flight in a Lancaster to familiarise himself with the aircraft, he flew his first operation, a 10-hour sortie to bomb the docks at La Spezia.

In the spring of 1943, Bomber Command's main offensive had begun, and Prickett joined No 103 Squadron as the Battle of the Ruhr got under way.   He bombed the heavily defended major cities of the Ruhr with occasional sorties to Turin.

On the night of July 24 he took off for the first of four devastating raids against Hamburg.   Accompanying him for experience was a major of the Royal Artillery serving at HQ No 1 Bomber Group.   On their return the major wrote a detailed report highlighting the effectiveness of the "window" radar counter measures which had been employed for the first time.   For the rest of his life, Prickett was deeply affected by the devastation and suffering caused by the Hamburg raids.

By now Prickett was beginning to suffer from spinal arthritis, a serious handicap on long sorties, but he never once turned back, continuing to fly on all the major operations.   On August 17 he joined 595 other aircraft on the successful attack against the German research establishment at Peenemunde, where the V1 and V2 were being developed and tested.   After 30 operations he was rested and awarded an immediate DSO, the recording his "unflinching determination and magnificent courage and outstanding example to the squadron".

In October 1943 Prickett returned to the United States for staff duties with the RAF delegation in Washington, where he had particular responsibility for the bilateral aircrew flying training programme.

During the immediate postwar years Prickett was an instructor.   He then converted to jet fighters, commanding the fighter bases at Tangmere and at Jever in northern Germany.   He also served on the staff of the Middle East Air Force, and in 1956 was selected to attend the Imperial Defence College.

After Suez he served in the air ministry's policy branch before becoming the senior air staff officer at No 1 (Bomber) Group.   This was at the time of the introduction of the Vulcan; he flew the aircraft himself, and in May 1960 led a formation of Vulcans on a tour of South American capitals.

There followed two important appointments at the air ministry - in the operations and plans divisions.   There was considerable restructuring of the RAF in the aftermath of Duncan Sandys's Defence White Paper of 1957, and Prickett's experience and calm approach proved highly welcome.

In September 1964 Prickett was appointed Commander-in Chief Near East Air Force; Commander British Forces Near East; and Administrator, British Sovereign Bases in Cyprus.

In Cyprus, his outgoing personality and charisma won him the trust of Archbishop Makarios; aside from more weighty matters, Prickett persuaded Makarios to accept the setting-up of a wildlife reserve throughout the Sovereign Bases to protect the huge numbers of migrant birds.   Prickett also became a personal friend of King Hussein of Jordan, who admired not only his military record but also his excellent horsemanship and enthusiasm for polo.   The British Army in the Mediterranean also took warmly to their RAF C-in-C.

On his return to Britain in 1967 he was appointed C-in-C Transport Command.   A year later he helped to transform it into Air Support Command, when he was given increased responsibility for long-range strategic and tactical air support and assault roles.

Prickett's appointment in July 1968 as air member for supply and organisation gave him a seat on the Air Force Board as the RAF was introducing a new generation of "fast jet" aircraft after the successive cancellations of the TSR 2 and its replacement, the American-built F-111.

He fought his corner astutely (and at times outspokenly) when dealing with both his peers and with politicians.   On the cancellation of the F-111, he wrote directly to the responsible minister, reminding him of his privately-given undertaking a year or so earlier, that he (the minister) would resign should anything happen to derail that aircraft.   The letter was never answered.

In October 1970 Prickett took voluntary retirement from the RAF, following an invitation from the Duke of Richmond to assist in the redevelopment of the Goodwood estate.   He was asked to regenerate the airfield and the motor racing circuit, both of which he accomplished with style, and he gave valuable assistance in the development of the estate's international equestrian events.

A large, powerful man, Prickett was a strong personality with considerable presence.   Held in great esteem by his staff, he was known for his warm and generous nature.

He was appointed CB in 1957 and KCB in 1965.

Prickett's fine horsemanship derived from his days playing polo in his pre-RAF days, when he served with the Indian cavalry.   In later life he was an active president of the RAF Equitation Association, taking a particularly keen interest in its annual championships.   He was also a passionate sailor, and had part-ownership of a racing yacht of the X-1 design.

Tom Prickett, who died on January 23, married his American wife, Betty, in 1942.   She died in 1984, and the following year he married Shirley Westerman, who survives him with a son and a daughter of his first marriage.