C. W. Hill

{{Short description|Australian officer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2018}} {{Infobox military person |name= C. W. Hill |image= |image_size= |alt= |caption= |nickname= |birth_date= {{birth date|1891|04|03|df=yes}} |birth_place= [[Warwick, Queensland|Warwick]], Australia |death_date= {{death date and age|1975|03|05|1891|04|03|df=yes}} |death_place= [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]], England |burial_place= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= [[British Army]] (1915–1918)<br/>[[Royal Air Force]] (1918–1944) |service_years= 1915–1944 |rank= [[Group Captain]] |unit= |commands= [[RAF Tangmere]] (1937)<br/>[[No. 1 Squadron RAF|No. 1 Squadron]] (1934–1936, 1936–1937) |battles= [[First World War]]<br/>[[Second World War]] |awards= [[Mentioned in Despatches]] |relations= |other_work= }} '''Cedric Waters Hill''' (3 April 1891 – 5 March 1975) was an Australian officer in the [[Royal Flying Corps]] and later the [[Royal Air Force]] who, together with [[E. H. Jones (author)|E. H. Jones]], escaped from the [[Yozgat]] [[prisoner of war camp]] in Turkey during the [[First World War]].<ref name = "ADB">{{cite web |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hill-cedric-waters-10502 |title=Hill, Cedric Waters (1891–1975) |author= Darryl Bennet and Neville Parker |publisher=[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]] |access-date=10 November 2013}}</ref> Their epic story was told in Jones' book ''The Road to En-dor'' and in his own book ''The Spook and the Commandant''.

Between February 1917 and October 1918, Jones and Hill convinced their Turkish captors that they were [[Medium (spirituality)|mediums]] adept at the [[Ouija]] board. Taking advantage of the greed of the Turkish camp Commandant, with promises of buried treasure via the Ouija board, the two men managed to engineer the circumstances of their imprisonment to favour their escape. Eventually they convinced their gaolers to repatriate them by feigning insanity, arriving home only a few months before the Armistice.

Hill continued his career in the RAF after the war. Granted a short service commission as a [[flying officer]] on 6 December 1920,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32166|date=17 December 1920|page=12401}}</ref> he was promoted [[flight lieutenant]] in January 1923 and appointed to a permanent commission six months later.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32782|date=1 January 1923|page=15|supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32841|date=3 July 1923|page=4622}}</ref> He was advanced to [[squadron leader]] in 1931.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33731|date=30 June 1931|page=4251}}</ref> Hill commanded [[No. 1 Squadron RAF|No. 1 Squadron]] from October 1934 to January 1936 and again from December that year until April 1937. That same month, he was promoted to [[Wing commander (rank)|wing commander]] and appointed to command [[RAF Tangmere]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34385|date=2 April 1937|page=2126}}</ref> He was made an acting [[group captain]] from 1 June 1940,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34866|date=7 June 1940|page=3435}}</ref> during the [[Second World War]], and retired from the RAF in 1944. Hill then worked as a ferry pilot for the [[Air Transport Auxiliary]].<ref name = "ADB"/>

On 5 March 1975, Hill died at his home in [[Windsor, Berkshire]]. He was survived by his wife and daughter.

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading== *''The Road to En-dor'', E. H. Jones, 1921, John Lane the Bodley Head ltd., London *''The Spook and the Commandant'', C. W. Hill, 1975, William Kimber, {{ISBN|0718301242}}

==External links== * {{Gutenberg author|id=45610}} *[https://archive.org/details/roadtoendor00unkngoog ''The road to En-dor''] at the [[Internet Archive]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, C. W.}} [[Category:1891 births]] [[Category:1975 deaths]] [[Category:World War I prisoners of war held by the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]] [[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]] [[Category:British World War I prisoners of war]] [[Category:British escapees]] [[Category:Escapees from Turkish detention]] [[Category:British World War I pilots]] [[Category:Royal Air Force group captains]] [[Category:Air Transport Auxiliary pilots]]