Harry Burton (RAF officer)

Air Marshal Sir Harry Burton KCB, CBE, DSO (2 May 1919 – 30 November 1993) was a Royal Air Force officer who became Air-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Air Support Command.

Burton joined the Royal Air Force in 1937. During the Second World War he served as a pilot with No. 215 Squadron and then No. 149 Squadron before being shot down over the Black Forest and taken prisoner of war. He escaped from Germany and later in the war he was appointed Officer Commanding No. 242 Squadron and then No. 238 Squadron.

After the war he was seconded to the Indian Air Force before becoming Group Captain responsible for Organisation at Headquarters RAF Bomber Command in 1958 and then Station Commander at RAF Scampton in 1960. He was made Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters No. 3 Group in 1963, Air Executive to the Deputy for Nuclear Affairs at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in 1965 and Air Officer Commanding No. 23 (Training) Group in 1967. He went on to be Air-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Air Support Command in 1970, in which capacity he opened the now disbanded Southend Aircraft Museum, and Air Officer Commanding No. 46 Group before retiring in 1973.