Dick Cresswell

Dick Cresswell
Squadron Leader Cresswell as commanding officer of No. 77 Squadron, Darwin, December 1942
Nickname(s)	"Mr Double Seven"[1]
Born	27 July 1920 Launceston, Tasmania
Died	12 December 2006(2006-12-12) (aged 86) Canberra
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Royal Australian Air Force
Service years	1938–57
Rank	Wing Commander
Unit	No. 3 Squadron (1939–40) No. 2 Service Flying Training School (1940–42) No. 1 Wing (1944) No. 81 Wing (1944–45)
Commands	No. 77 Squadron (1942–43, 1944, 1950–51) No. 78 Wing (1947–48) No. 21 Squadron (1950) No. 2 Operational Training Unit (1953–56)
Battles / wars	World War II South West Pacific theatre North-Western Area campaign New Guinea campaign Korean War
Awards	Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Flying Cross (US) Air Medal (US)
Other work	Commercial pilot, salesman

Richard Cresswell, DFC (27 July 1920 – 12 December 2006) was an officer and pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He held command of No. 77 (Fighter) Squadron twice during World War II, and again during the Korean War. Cresswell was credited with being the first RAAF pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft at night over Australian soil, the only man to serve as commanding officer of an RAAF squadron on three occasions during wartime, and the first officer to lead a jet-equipped Australian squadron in combat. His performance in Korea earned him both the Commonwealth and the US Distinguished Flying Crosses.

Born in Tasmania, Cresswell worked as an apprentice electrician before joining the RAAF in July 1938. He initially commanded No. 77 Squadron from April 1942 to August 1943, flying P-40 Kittyhawks in defence of Australia's North-Western Area against Japanese raiders. Cresswell claimed the squadron's first aerial victory—the first by an Australian over the mainland—in November 1942. He was wing leader of No. 81 (Fighter) Wing in New Guinea from May 1944 to March 1945, simultaneously commanding No. 77 Squadron for a second time between September and December 1944. In September 1950, during the Korean War, Cresswell took command of No. 77 Squadron in combat for the third time. He oversaw its conversion from P-51 Mustangs to Gloster Meteors, becoming the first RAAF commander of a jet squadron in war. As well as Meteors, Cresswell flew F-80 Shooting Star and F-86 Sabre jets in combat while on attachment to the United States Air Force in Korea. He handed over command of No. 77 Squadron for the last time in August 1951, but flew six more missions as a Meteor pilot in 1953.

Cresswell was responsible for converting pilots to jet fighters as commanding officer of No. 2 Operational Training Unit in Australia from 1953 until 1956. He resigned from the RAAF the following year, and flew with Bobby Gibbes' Sepik Airways in New Guinea before joining de Havilland Australia in 1959. Initially engaged by the company as a pilot, he later became a salesman. Cresswell resigned from de Havilland in 1974, but maintained his connection with military aviation, including No. 77 Squadron. He died in December 2006, aged eighty-six.