Wing Commander Wilfrid Greville Clouston

Born in Auckland on January 15 1916, Clouston later moved to Wellington where he received his secondary education but spent his final school year, 1932, at Nelson College, after which he worked as a clerk for a Wellington company.

Having obtained his pilot’s licence at Rongotai in 1935, he left New Zealand to join the RAF in June 1936. His first posting after training was to Duxford where he joined 19 Squadron, later to become the first Spitfire-equipped unit, in June 1937. The Squadron was immediately operational at the outbreak of war, protecting shipping in the North Sea. It was not until May 1940, after the German invasion of the Low Countries, that the squadron saw any action. On the 11th Clouston shared in destroying a Ju 88 and on the 23rd he shot down a Bf 109. 
 
The Squadron moved south two days later for operations over the Dunkirk beaches. 
 
Clouston destroyed two Ju 87s on May 26, followed by one Do 17 and probably another on the 27th. Action was fierce over Dunkirk and on June 1 he destroyed one Bf 109, with another listed as probable and a third damaged. The evacuation having been successfully completed, 19 Squadron returned to Duxford and Clouston was subsequently awarded the DFC. 
 
In late August 1940 the Squadron began to take part in the Battle of Britain and before it finished on October 31 Clouston had claimed the destruction of three enemy aircraft, two as probables and shared another. In November 1940 Clouston was posted away to take command of the newly-formed 258 Squadron. Many of the pilots were New Zealanders and the fernleaf was adopted as the unofficial badge. Becoming operational in mid-December, 258 defended Belfast and ports in northern England until April 1941, when the unit moved south to take part in offensive sweeps over France. 
 
Clouston left in August 1941 to take command of 488 Squadron, then being formed in New Zealand for service in the Far-East. He met the newly-trained pilots and ground staff when they arrived at Singapore on 10 October 1941. Twenty-one Brewster Buffalos, formerly flown by an RAF Squadron and in a bad state of repair, were allocated to the new unit. Clouston had the task of making the squadron operational - a very difficult task due to the inexperience of the pilots, the chronic shortage of tools and spares, and bad weather. 
 
Malaya was attacked by the Japanese forces on 8 December and 488, although not fully operational, flew interception patrols. These were not successful, the performance of the Buffalo being very inferior compared to the Japanese aircraft encountered. 
 
On 12 January 1942 the Squadron lost two aircraft, had five damaged and three pilots wounded without any known enemy losses. By the 24th only two Buffalos were fit to fly and, although 488’s strength was augmented by nine Hurricanes, the situation was hopeless and the serviceable aircraft were flown to Sumatra. After retreating from airfield to airfield in Java, the unit’s remaining aircraft were handed over, with their pilots, to 605 Squadron RAF in mid-February 1942 and surviving personnel embarked in a ship bound for Australia. 
 
Clouston had handed over command of 488 Squadron to his senior flight commander, New Zealander Flight Lieutenant John Mackenzie, to take a post at RAF HQ, Singapore and was subsequently taken prisoner. 
 
After his release Clouston remained in the RAF until his retirement in 1957, when he returned to New Zealand to take up farming. He died in Waipukurau on May 24, 1980.