Air Commodore Ernest William (Bill) Tacon CBE, DSO, MVO, DFC
Hastings Boys' High School 1931
Mr Tacon attended Hastings Boys’ High School in 1931. Ernest William Tacon, also known as Bill and ‘Dead-eye’. DFC and Bar, AFC and Bar, DSO, CBE, RVO. At School in 1931, in form 3C. In the 1931 Heretaungan, he is described as a ‘quiet and serious young man.’ He left in 1932 for St Patricks College, Silverstream, due in part to the after-effects of the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.
He returned to Hastings before joining the Air Force in 1939. By the end of the war he was a Wing Commander, earning the Air Force Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross, both with Bars. He ended the war as one of the RAF’s most decorated pilots for his bravery under fire and leadership of his squadrons
In 1944, he was shot down after assisting a number of pilots in his squadron who were in trouble and spent the last months of the war as a prisoner of war. On his liberation, he returned to Britain and the RAF. He continued rising through the ranks and was the first Commonwealth member to be Captain of the King’s Flight, at the personal request of King Geroge VI, flying the Royal Family around Britain and the world. He held many positions of importance such as station Commander in Egypt at the time of the Suez Crisis, as well as in Cyprus. He also headed up many training and operational stations and was involved in RAF tactical and strategic planning. Bill ended his career with the RAF in 1971 as Air Commodore, the equivalent rank as a Brigadier General in the army, and returned to live in New Zealand.
However, his life of service did not stop there. In 1973, he was appointed to the National Executive of the IHC and when the Aswan Dam project began he headed an international ‘Save the Animals’ campaign. Although he only had a short time attending our School, he was a very proud Old Boy, keeping in contact with Mr. S I Jones and other Old Boys throughout and after the war. He also attended the 50th reunion of the school.
Air Commodore Tacon passed away in Auckland on September 9, 2003.
