Whitney Straight was born in New York in 1912. He travelled to England in 1925, and after being educated at Dartington Hall he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. He took a Moral Sciences Tripos, but left the university to develop his career in motor racing, in which he was a driver and owned his own team. He flew his own aeroplane. He became a British citizen and concentrated on his business interests.
Straight joined No 601 Squadron, AAF in March 1939 and was called to full-time service on 24 August. He spent periods on Special Duties under Air Ministry orders.
He sailed with a naval force to Norway on 15 April 1940, with the temporary rank of Squadron Leader, tasked with finding frozen lakes from which aircraft could operate.
He found and organised the clearing of Lake Lesjaskog in time for No 263 Squadron to arrive on the 24th. The Germans bombed the lake on the 25th and destroyed most of the squadron’s Gladiators. Straight was injured in the attack and evacuated to Britain by the Navy. He was temporarily deaf and grounded. He had a spell as ADC to HRH the Duke of Kent.
Straight regained his operational category and rejoined 601at Exeter on 28 September. He destroyed a He 111 on 12 December south of Start Point, south Devon. He was awarded the MC on 1 January 1941 for his services in Norway. He was appointed a Flight Commander in 601 in early 1941 and destroyed a Bf 109 over the Channel on 2 February. Later in the year he commanded No 242 Squadron and was awarded the DFC.
During an attack on a destroyer on 31 July Straight was shot down by light flak. He made a forced-landing in a field, tried, without success, to fire the aircraft and first ran and then walked as far and as fast as he could from the scene. He slept in a barn and caught a train for Paris the next day. He went to the American Embassy but it was closed. He managed to obtain 12,000 francs from the caretaker.
Straight crossed into Vichy France and was eventually imprisoned, posing as a British Army officer. He was interned until escaping on 22 June 1942. With the help of the Resistance, he reached a beach near Perpignan, from where he was rowed out to a trawler, which took him and other fugitives to Gibraltar. He reached No 1 RAF Depot, Uxbridge on 21 July 1942.
He was posted to the Middle East as an Acting Air Commodore and, back in the UK, held a senior appointment in Transport Command. He was released from the RAF in November 1945, as a Group Captain, retaining the rank of Air Commodore. He had been made CBE.
When BEA was established in 1946, Straight became its Deputy Chairman and Managing Director. He chaired a government advisory committee on private flying and was Chairman of the Royal Aero Club from 1946 to 1951. In 1947 he became Deputy Chairman of BOAC. He later held Board appointments at Rolls-Royce, Midland Bank and the Post Office. He died on 5 April 1979.
