Mervyn Williams

On 28 January 1972, he married Jane Hull in Kensington.

In 1961 he was appointed security coordinator at 10 Downing Street. He served in the role for 15 years under Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson and Edward Heath.

Following his release at the end of the war, Williams served with the RAF in Malta, Aden and Cyprus. In 1950, he became the first Commanding Officer of RAF Akrotiri. On 3 July 1958 he retired from the RAF.

He was mentioned in dispatches twice during the war and a third time in 1947. He was also appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1951 Birthday Honours.

In 1942, Williams became Commanding Officer of No. 42 Squadron RAF, which was operating as a torpedo-bomber unit at the time. In March 1942, his airplane crashed and exploded while returning from a raid along the Norwegian coast, although Williams was uninjured. On 17 May 1942, he led his squadron's 48 aircraft (Bristol Blenheims and Bristol Beauforts) in a night-time torpedo attack against the German cruiser Prinz Eugen. During the attack, Williams' aircraft was shot down. He was subsequently recovered from the sea by the Germans; the only survivor from his four-man crew.

He commissioned into the RAF on 19 December 1931. Between September 1933 and April 1934, he served with 811 Naval Air Squadron, before serving with 812 Naval Air Squadron until March 1935. Williams then undertook a course at the Air Armament School at RAF Eastchurch. He was promoted to flight lieutenant on 19 June 1936. He then served at RAF Gosport with a Naval Squadron, and was promoted to squadron leader on 1 February 1939.

Group Captain Mervyn Francis Douglas Williams CBE DSO (24 March 1911 – 13 March 1987) was a British Royal Air Force pilot of the Second World War who later served as security coordinator at 10 Downing Street.