BOLT, R Adm Arthur Seymour ('Ben') (1907-1994)

Copies of papers, 1909-1974, comprising typescript copy of the 'Interim Report of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics', 1909; night order book, HMS THESEUS, Korea, 1950-1951; newspaper cuttings on HMS THESEUS' departure from UK to Korea and subsequent return, 1950-1951; typescript transcript of Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies lecture by Bolt, Oct 1951, entitled 'HMS THESEUS in the Korean War and some special problems of naval aviation in that theatre' (subsequently published in the Journal of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies; standard circular letters to all retired admirals, containing Royal Navy news and information, from Chief of Naval Staff and First Sea Lord Adm Sir Varyl (Cargill) Begg, 1966-1968, Adm Sir Peter (John) Hill-Norton, 1971, and Adm Sir Michael (Patrick) Pollock, 1972-1974; article by Bolt on minesweeping in 1940-1941 by Vickers DWI (Directional Wireless Installation) Wellington aircraft entitled 'Minesweeping Wellingtons: Part 1: equipment and technique: early operations in the Thames Estuary', published in Air Pictorial (Apr-May 1979), with nine uncaptioned photographs of Wellington aircraft and a captured German magnetic mine.

Born 1907; educated at Nautical College, Pangbourne, and Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; joined Royal Navy, 1923; service on HMS EMPEROR OF INDIA, 1925; Lt, 1929; qualified as an aircrew observer, 1931; served on HMS GLORIOUS, 1931-1934; HMS FURIOUS, 1934-1938; Lt Cdr, 1937; Commanded 812 Naval Air Sqn, HMS GLORIOUS, 1938-1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; service with No 1 'General Reconnaissance Unit' RAF, magnetic minesweeping with Vickers Wellington bombers, UK and Egypt, 1940- 1941; awarded DSC, 1940; Staff observer to Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, HMS WARSPITE, 1941-1942; Battle of Cape Matapan, 1941; Cdr, 1941; awarded Bar to DSC, 1941; served in the Naval Air Department, Admiralty, 1942-1945; served as Second in Command of HMS BELFAST, 1946-1947; Capt, 1947; Command of HMS VULTURE, Royal Naval Air Station, St Merryn, Cornwall, 1947-1949; Capt of HMS THESEUS, 1949-1951; served in Korean War, 1950-1951; awarded DSO, 1951; Director of Naval Air Warfare, Admiralty, 1951-1953; Chief of Staff to Flag Officer Air (Home), HMS DAEDALUS, Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, 1954-1956; R Adm, 1956; Member of Maritime Air Committee, 1956; Deputy Controller of Military Aircraft, Ministry of Supply, 1957-1960; awarded CB, 1958; retired 1960; died 1994.

5 files

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Presented to the Centre by the family in 1995 and 1996.

Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge University: correspondence with Capt Stephen Wentworth Roskill RN on the loss of HMS GLORIOUS.

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.