John Wooldridge

Wing Commander John De Lacy Wooldridge, DSO, DFC and Bar, DFM, (18 July 1919 – 27 October 1958) was a British film composer.

Early life

Wooldridge was born in Yokohama, Japan and was educated at St Paul's School, London. A talented music composer and academic, he studied music under Sibelius and was a friend and contemporary of William Walton.

World War II

He joined the Royal Air Force as a sergeant pilot in 1938. During the Second World War, he was a member of RAF Bomber Command, flying a total of 97 operational bombing sorties.[1]

Affectionately known as "Dim", he served with No. 207 Squadron based at RAF Bottesford flying Avro Manchesters. He then served with No. 106 Squadron as one of Guy Gibson's flight commanders, before being appointed commanding officer of No. 105 Squadron in March 1943, which specialised in low level precision daylight bombing using de Havilland Mosquito aircraft.

He wrote a book, Low Attack, about these operations in 1944.

It would be impossible to forget … the sensation of looking back over enemy territory and seeing your formation behind you, wing-tip to wing-tip, their racing shadows moving only a few feet below them across the earth's surface; or that feeling of sudden exhilaration when the target was definitely located and the whole pack were following you on to it with their bomb doors open, while people below scattered in every direction and the long streams of flak came swinging up; or the sudden jerk of consternation of the German soldiers lounging on the coast, their moment of indecision, and then their mad scramble for the guns; or the memory of racing across The Hague at midday on a bright spring morning, while the Dutchmen below hurled their hats in the air and beat each other on the back. All these are unforgettable memories. Many of them will be recalled also by the peoples of Europe long after peace has been declared, for to them the Mosquito came to be an ambassador during their darkest hours.[2]

In May 1944, while in America he volunteered to ferry one of the first Canadian-built Mosquitoes across the Atlantic to Britain, and accompanied by F/O C. J. Brown as navigator, set a new record for the Atlantic crossing from Goose Bay, Labrador to the UK, of 5 hours, 46 minutes. The previous record for the Labrador-Britain route had been held by a BOAC Liberator at 7 hours 56 minutes.

He was aeronautical adviser to the Petroleum Warfare Department during the development of the Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO) fog dispersal system.[3]

Film composer

Wooldridge put this war time experience to good use when he contributed the score, as well as co-writing the screenplay to the 1953 Dirk Bogarde film Appointment in London.

His first marriage in 1942 to Mary Latham, with whom he had a son, Morris Latham, also a pilot, ended in divorce.

He subsequently married the actress Margaretta Scott in 1948, with whom he had a daughter, Susan Wooldridge, also an actress; and a son, Hugh Wooldridge.

Wooldridge was killed in a car accident in England aged 39 and is buried at St Lawrence's Church Cholesbury, Buckinghamshire, with his second wife, Margaretta.[4][5]

Film scores

Musical works

  • The Constellations (1944)
  • A Solemn Hymn To Victory (1944)
  • The Elizabethans
  • Largo for Orchestra
  • Prelude for an Unwritten Tragedy
  • Prelude for a Great Occasion a.k.a. Music for a Great Occasion
  • Song of the Summer Hills
  • Slow March for the Royal Air Force
  • The Saga of the Ships

References

  1. ↑ Falconer, Jonathon (1998). The Bomber Command Handbook 1939–1945. Stroud: Sutton Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7509-1819-5.
  2. ↑ Low Attack, John de L. Wooldridge, 1944
  3. ↑ http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1947/1947%20-%200297.html
  4. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=17082260&CRid=2160207&
  5. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=17082260
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