Cecil Arthur Lewis

British fighter pilot (1898–1997)

Cecil Arthur Lewis (29 March 1898 – 27 January 1997) was a British fighter ace who flew with No. 56 Squadron RAF in the First World War, and was credited with destroying eight enemy aircraft. He went on to be a founding executive of the British Broadcasting Company and to enjoy a long career as a writer, notably of the aviation classic Sagittarius Rising, some scenes from which were represented in the film Aces High.

Lewis was born on 29 March 1898 at 11, Radnor Place, Birkenhead, then in Cheshire, the only child of Edward Williams Lewis, a Congregational minister, by his marriage to Alice Rigby. His parents had been married at Runcorn in 1896. After a short time at Dulwich College, leaving school at the age of seventeen. In 1916, he flew the Morane Parasol on operations with No. 3 Squadron and was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Somme. Flying over the battlefield on the First day on the Somme (1 July 1916) to report on British troop movements, Lewis witnessed the blowing of the mines at La Boiselle. He later described the early morning scene in his book Sagittarius Rising. It had been arranged that continuous overlapping patrols would fly throughout the day. Lewis's patrol was ordered "to keep clear of La Boiselle" because of the mines that were to be blown. As he watched from above the village of Thiepval, almost two miles from where the mines exploded, Lewis saw a remarkable sight,

Lewis's aircraft was hit by lumps of mud thrown out by the explosion. During May and June 1917, when he was flying the S. E.5a with the elite 56 Squadron, Lewis was credited with eight victories. Back in England, Lewis served with 44 and 61 Squadrons on Home Defence before returning to France in late 1918 with 152 (Night Fighter) Squadron, flying the Sopwith Camel, as a flight commander with the rank of captain. A forty minute interview with Lewis, describing his experiences as a First World War pilot, was recorded by the BBC in 1963–64 and later made available online as part of the centenary commemorations of the war. In it, Lewis describes how on his first flight he had the most unusual experience of seeing 9 inch howitzer shells turning over in flight at 8,000 feet before descending to the target. He also described his most frightening experience of the war: a reconnaissance flight at 1,000 feet during the initial bombardment before the battle of the Somme. This entailed flying along the line of fire of shells. Close passing shells caused severe turbulence to his aircraft and a number of his friends were killed. He returned to England when the air service project was abandoned by Vickers after a couple of years. With his first wife, he had one son and one daughter. which Ricketts had given him £300 to buy. The other four were John Reith, Arthur Burrows, Stanton Jefferies and Peter Eckersley. In 1927 he participated in the BBC's first sports broadcasts, assisting commentator Teddy Wakelam. In 1931, he co wrote and directed a short film adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw play How He Lied to Her Husband. In late 1936 – early 1937 he was a producer and presenter for the infant BBC Television Service at Alexandra Palace. At the 1938 Academy Awards ceremony, Lewis, Shaw, Ian Dalrymple and W. P. Lipscomb were awarded Oscars for their screen adaptation of Pygmalion.

Lewis joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in early 1939 as a pilot officer and served in the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II, rising to the rank of squadron leader. Bernard Shaw wrote of Lewis: "This prince of pilots has had a charmed life in every sense of the word. He is a thinker, a master of words and a bit of a poet. ".

During the late 1940s Lewis became enamoured with the teachings of the Greek Armenian mystic Gurdjieff. In 1947 he flew a Miles Gemini to South Africa, where he spent the next three years on a farm he established, but the farm was not a success, and in 1950 he returned to England. He joined the Daily Mail in 1956 as a journalist, formally retiring in 1966. Through Shaw, who became Lewis's mentor, the Lewises met T. E. Lawrence, Noël Coward, Paul Robeson, Sybil Thorndike, and H. G. Wells. The marriage struggled, as, according to Doushka, Lewis was "a compulsive philanderer". On the strength of the success of Sagittarius Rising (1936), Lewis moved to Hollywood but Doushka returned to Peking, to stay with her mother. In 1960, he married Frances Lowe, known as Fanny. In 1970, they bought a 26 foot boat and together sailed it to Corfu, a story told in Turn Right for Corfu (1972). The couple settled there until Lewis's death in 1997. In 1996, when Lewis and Doushka were in their nineties, he published his last book, So Long Ago, So Far Away.