{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} [[File:Chaz Bowyer.jpg|thumb|Chaz Bowyer]] '''Raymond "Chaz" Bowyer''' (29 September 1926 – 18 June 2008) was a Royal Air Force armaments and explosives instructor who, after he retired from service, wrote and edited over forty books relating to the operations, aircraft, and men of the [[Royal Flying Corps]], [[Royal Air Force]], and [[Royal Naval Air Service]]. He also edited for publication the memoirs of the pilots C.P.O. Bartlett, [[Eric Crundall]], and [[Gwilym H. Lewis]].
==Early life and family== Chaz Bowyer was born in [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]], Dorset, on 29 September 1926,<ref name=cross/> to Reginald (a builder) and Dorothy Bowyer née Northam. He was educated at high schools in Solihull and Nelson, England. He married twice and had a daughter from his first marriage and a son and a daughter from his second.<ref name=cross/> His first wife pre-deceased him.<ref name=gale>[http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&u=wikipedia&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CH1000010991&it=r&asid=3a7d0f9d0a02af2cc10f10027b16a44e "(Raymond) Chaz Bowyer"], ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2001. Retrieved 12 July 2017. {{subscription required}}</ref> A heavy smoker, Bowyer gave up cigarettes for small cigars after a heart attack.<ref name=cross/>
==Royal Air Force== Bowyer joined the [[Royal Air Force]] in 1943 at the age of 16 under the [[Aircraft Apprentice Scheme]], based at [[No. 1 School of Technical Training RAF|RAF Halton]]. The scheme had been instituted by [[Lord Trenchard]] to improve the supply of technically trained ground crew and its entrants were affectionately known as [[Trenchard Brat|"Trenchard brats"]].<ref name=valour>Cover notes, ''For Valour: The Air VC's''. Metheun, London, 1985. {{ISBN|0423016903}}</ref> He served for 26 years, became an instructor in explosives and armaments, and was stationed in Egypt, Libya, Palestine, Singapore, and Aden. On his first posting overseas, somewhere in north Africa, he was told to dig a hole in the sand and improvise a tent over it. He often remarked, "If you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined".<ref name=cross/> He reached the rank of sergeant before retiring in 1969 to pursue a career in aviation research and writing.<ref name=gale/> He was a life member of the [[Royal Air Force Association]].<ref name=gale/>
==Writing== Bowyer produced over forty books relating to the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Air Force and the Royal Naval Air Service. He told ''[[Contemporary Authors]]'':
<blockquote> My motivation? Primarily to place on permanent record accurate accounts of men, deeds, and events connected with Royal Air Force history. This is exemplified (perhaps) by ''For Valour: The Air V.C.s'' which is now accepted as the standard reference work on the subject. I am tired of reading historical drivel as perpetrated by 'well-known' authors, most of whom are simply novelists or journalists with no background knowledge of genuine aviation history. Too many 'military historians' are simply writers jumping on the history bandwagon only for profit.<ref name=gale/> </blockquote>
He began to write while in service with the RAF, contributing to squadron newsletters and similar publications wherever he was stationed. His first book attempt was on RAF Calshot<ref name=cross/> but his first major work was ''The Flying Elephants'', a history of [[No. 27 Squadron RAF|Number 27 Squadron]], Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force from 1915 to 1969 (Macdonald, 1972),<ref name="Robbins">{{cite book|author=Robbins, Keith.|title=A Bibliography of British History, 1914–1989.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jck8Lm5oE3AC&pg=PA379|year=1996|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-822496-9|page=379}}</ref> a unit in which Bowyer served,<ref name=cross/> which received a foreword by Air Marshal [[Andrew McKee (RAF officer)|Sir Andrew McKee]].
In 1979 he edited a translation from German into English of [[Armand van Ishoven]]'s life of the [[World War I|First World War]] flying ace [[Ernst Udet]], ''Udet'' (1977), published in English as ''The Fall of an Eagle: The Life of Fighter Ace Ernst Udet''.<ref>[http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLL01008099304 The fall of an eagle : the life of fighter ace Ernst Udet / Armand van Ishoven; English version [translated from the German<nowiki>]</nowiki> by Chaz Bowyer.] British Library. Retrieved 12 July 2017.</ref>
He wrote nine titles for [[Ian Allan Publishing|Ian Allan]]'s ''At War'' series describing the operational career of various British Second World War aircraft. For a time he was the editor of the journal of the [[Cross and Cockade International]] society devoted to the history of aviation during the First World War.<ref name=gale/> His books were researched through his personal library, clippings, photographs, and especially personal contacts. He rarely consulted the Ministry of Defence or the [[Public Record Office]], though he had good contacts with the [[Imperial War Museum]].<ref name=cross/>
==Death and legacy== Bowyer died on 18 June 2008 at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital after a short illness. He was cremated at St Faith's Crematorium, Norwich, on 2 July and his ashes scattered at RAF Halton. He received an obituary in the ''Cross and Cockade International''.<ref name=cross>"Chaz Bowyer", Norman Franks, ''Cross and Cockade International'', Vol. 39 No. 3 (2008), p. 199.</ref>
==Selected publications== ===1970s=== * ''The Flying Elephants: A History of No.27 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps-Royal Air Force, 1915–69''. Macdonald and Co., London, 1972. {{ISBN|0356038165}} * ''Adventures in the Air''. Macmillan, London, 1973. (Juvenile, 4 parts) * ''Airmen of World War I: Men of the British and Empire Air Forces in Old Photographs''. Arms & Armour Press, London, 1975. {{ISBN|0882543563}} * ''Hampden Special''. Ian Allan, London, 1976. {{ISBN|0711006830}} * ''History of the RAF''. Hamlyn, London, 1977. {{ISBN|0600375889}} * ''Sopwith Camel: King of Combat''. Glasney Press, 1978. {{ISBN|095028257X}} * ''Guns in the Sky: The Air Gunners Of World War Two''. Dent, London, 1979. {{ISBN|046004429X}}
===1980s=== * ''Supermarine Spitfire''. Arms and Armour/Bison, 1980. {{ISBN|0890093210}} * ''Air War Over Europe: 1939–1945''. William Kimber, London, 1981. {{ISBN|0718302389}} * ''The Age of the Biplane''. Hamlyn/Bison, London, 1981. {{ISBN|0600349454}} * ''Fighter Command 1936–1968''. Dent, London, 1981. {{ISBN|0460043889}} * ''Surviving World War II Aircraft''. Batsford, London, 1981. {{ISBN|0713434317}} * ''The Encyclopedia of British Military Aircraft''. [[Arms and Armour Press]], London, 1982. {{ISBN|0853685177}} * ''Images of Air War, 1939–45''. Batsford, London, 1983. 0713437847 * ''Bristol Blenheim''. Ian Allan, 1984. {{ISBN|0711013519}} * ''Mosquito Squadrons of the Royal Air Force''. Ian Allan, 1984. {{ISBN|0711014256}} * ''Bristol F2B Fighter: King of Two-Seaters''. Ian Allan, 1985. * ''Gloster Meteor''. Ian Allan, 1985. (Postwar Military Aircraft: 2) {{ISBN|0711014779}} * ''Tales from the Bombers''. William Kimber, London, 1985. {{ISBN|0718305663}} * ''The Wellington Bomber''. William Kimber, London, 1986. {{ISBN|0718306198}} * ''Beaufighter''. William Kimber, London, 1987. {{ISBN|0718306473}} * ''Royal Air Force Operations, 1918–38''. William Kimber, London, 1988. {{ISBN|0718306716}} * ''The Short Sunderland''. Aston Publications, 1989. {{ISBN|0946627347}}
===1990s=== * ''Handley Page Bombers of the First World War''. Aston Publications, Bourne End, 1992. {{ISBN|0946627681}} * ''Halifax & Wellington''. Haynes, 1995. (With Brian J. Rapier) {{ISBN|1856481735}} * ''Royal Air Force, Calshot, 1913–1961''. Frank Smith Maritime Aviation Books, 1997. {{ISBN|0953102300}}
===At War series=== (All published by Ian Allan, London & Weybridge.) * ''Mosquito at War'', 1973. * ''Beaufighter at War'', 1976. {{ISBN|0711007047}} * ''Sunderland at War''. Ian Allan, 1976. {{ISBN|0711006652}} * ''Coastal Command at War'', 1979. * ''Path Finders at War'', 1979. {{ISBN|0711007578}} * ''Bomber Group at War''. Ian Allan, 1981. {{ISBN|0711010870}} * ''Desert Air Force at War'', 1981. (With Christopher F. Shores) * ''Wellington at War'', 1982. {{ISBN|0711012202}} * ''Hurricane at War''. Ian Allan, 1985. {{ISBN|0711005648}}
===Biographical=== * ''Albert Ball, VC''. William Kimber, London, 1977. {{ISBN|0718300459}} * ''For Valour: The Air V.C.s''. William Kimber, London, 1978. * ''Bomber Barons''. William Kimber, London, 1983. * ''Eugene Esmonde, V.C., D.S.O.'' William Kimber, London, 1983. {{ISBN|0718304098}} * ''Fighter Pilots of the RAF 1939–1945''. William Kimber, London, 1984. {{ISBN|0718305191}} * ''Men of the Desert Air Force, 1940–1943''. William Kimber, London, 1984. {{ISBN|0718305396}} * ''Men of Coastal Command, 1939–45''. William Kimber, London, 1985. {{ISBN|071830554X}}
===Edited works=== * Bartlett, C.P.O. ''Bomber Pilot, 1916–1918''. Edited by Chaz Bowyer. Ian Allan, London, 1974. {{ISBN|0711005451}} * [[Eric Crundall|Crundall, E.D.]] ''Fighter Pilot on the Western Front''. William Kimber, London, 1975. (Uncredited) {{ISBN|0718301447}} * [[Gwilym H. Lewis|Lewis, G.H.]] ''Wings over the Somme, 1916 1918''. William Kimber, London, 1976. {{ISBN|0718303245}} * Van Ishoven, Armand. ''The Fall of an Eagle: The Life of Fighter Ace Ernst Udet''. William Kimber, London, 1979. {{ISBN|071830067X}} * ''Royal Air Force Handbook 1939–1945''. Ian Allan, London, 1984. {{ISBN|0711013187}} * [[Guy Gibson|Gibson, Guy]]. ''Enemy Coast Ahead''. Bridge Books, Wrexham, 1995. (Editor and introduction) {{ISBN|1872424503}} * ''Royal Flying Corps Communiques: 1917–1918''. Grub Street, London, 1998. {{ISBN|1898697795}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowyer, Chaz}} [[Category:1926 births]] [[Category:2008 deaths]] [[Category:British non-fiction writers]] [[Category:British aviation writers]] [[Category:Military personnel from Dorset]] [[Category:People from Weymouth, Dorset]] [[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]] [[Category:Royal Air Force airmen]] [[Category:20th-century non-fiction writers]]