Sir Thomas Pike | |
|---|---|
 Sir Thomas Pike in 1956 | |
| Born | 29 June 1906 Lewisham, London |
| Died | 1 June 1983 (aged 76) RAF Halton, Buckinghamshire |
| Buried | St. Andrew's churchyard, North Weald Bassett |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | 1924–1967 |
| Rank | Marshal of the Royal Air Force |
| Commands | Chief of the Air Staff (1960–63) RAF Fighter Command (1956–59) No. 11 Group (1950–51) Officers' Advanced Training School (1945–46) No. 1 Mobile Operations Room Unit (1943–44) RAF North Weald (1942) No. 219 Squadron (1941) |
| Battles / wars | Second World War |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Flying Cross & Bar Mentioned in dispatches Officer of the Legion of Merit (United States) |
| Relations | Lieutenant General Sir William Pike (brother) Lieutenant General Sir Hew Pike (nephew) |
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Thomas Geoffrey Pike, GCB, CBE, DFC & Bar, DL (29 June 1906 – 1 June 1983) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served in the Second World War as a night fighter squadron commander and then as a station commander. He was Chief of the Air Staff in the early 1960s and, in that role, deployed British air power as part of the British response to the Brunei Revolt. Also, in the face of escalating costs, he implemented the cancellation of the British Blue Streak ballistic missile system but then found the RAF was without any such capability when the Americans cancelled their own Skybolt ballistic missile system. He went on to be Deputy Supreme Commander Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in the mid-1960s.