Born in Kirkby-in-Furness, Woodhall joined the Royal Marines soon after the commencement of the First World War. As an officer in the Royal Marine Brigade, he served on the Western Front. Injured during the Battle of the Ancre in November 1916, after his recovery he spent the remainder of the war at sea with various vessels of the Royal Navy. In the interwar period, he volunteered to serve as a pilot with the Fleet Air Arm and flew torpedo bombers off aircraft carriers. He transferred to the RAF in 1930 and, after initial service with fighter squadrons, held staff roles until the start of the Second World War. In March 1940, he was appointed a sector controller at Duxford and coordinated the handling of fighter squadrons in the air during the Battle of Britain. He later served as the station commander at Tangmere and as a senior controller on Malta. By the end of the war, he had been made an officer in the Order of the British Empire and had been twice mentioned in despatches. He retired from the RAF in July 1945 and he spent his later years working in civil aviation in New Zealand, where he died at the age of 71.
Early life
Alfred Basil Woodhall was born on 9 January 1897 in Kirkby-in-Furness, in the United Kingdom, and was educated at Bolton Grammar School. He subsequently emigrated to South Africa, where he trained as a mining engineer in Johannesburg. Following the outbreak of the First World War, he found passage back to the United Kingdom as part of the crew of a ship.[1]
In 1939, Woodhall was based at the RAF station at Duxford in a staff role relating to fighter operations. In this capacity he helped develop the Dowding system used by Fighter Command to track aircraft movements over the southeast of England.[1]
The operations room at Duxford, from which Woodhall oversaw the interception of incoming Luftwaffe bombing raids
Battle of Britain
Promoted to temporary wing commander on 1 January 1940,[11] three months later Woodhall became commander of the Duxford station. He was also appointed the senior sector controller for No. 12 Group, responsible for directing RAF fighters to intercept incoming Luftwaffe bombing raids. His instructions were important in ensuring that the RAF fighters were optimally positioned to engage the Luftwaffe bombers and their escorts. A familiar and authoritative voice over the radio for fighter pilots taking off on interception duties, he became well known by the nickname 'Woody'.[1][12] A supporter of Squadron Leader Douglas Bader's Big Wing formation, in early November Woodhall was interviewed by Harold Balfour, the Under-Secretary of State for Air. Balfour's resulting memorandum was critical of Air Chief MarshalHugh Dowding's leadership of Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain; Dowding considered moving Bader on, but the Chief of Air Staff, Charles Portal, specifically directed that he and Woodhall were not to be punished for expressing their views to Balfour.[13]
Promoted to group captain, Woodhall took command of the station at Tangmere on 24 April where he was reunited with Bader, the two having become friends while both were at Duxford. By this time, Fighter Command had switched to offensive operations and were regularly sending the Tangmere Wing to occupied Europe, on bomber escort duties. Woodhall, as sector controller, would often be directing the operations and greeting the returning pilots. He had already instructed that the Tangmere squadrons be relocated to satellite airfields for protection against the air raids that frequently targeted the station. [1][6] When Bader was lost on operations in August, it was Woodhall who informed his wife; when it was discovered that Bader was a prisoner of war, it was also Woodhall who gave Bader's wife the news.[17]
Malta
In early 1942, Woodhall was sent to the island of Malta, an important base of operations for the Allies. The island had been under an aerial siege for several months and required an experienced fighter controller to direct the RAF fighters based there. He had limited resources; there were only seven operational Hawker Hurricane fighters at the time of his arrival. He immediately established a basic reserve of fighters to be deployed at regular intervals between the RAF squadrons on the island and instructed that sorties would only be allowed if a minimum of four aircraft were able to take off.[1][12]
As he did during the Battle of Britain, Woodhall, using information from observers and radar plots, would direct the RAF pilots towards the incoming bombers, endeavouring to place the fighters in the best position to engage them. Tony Holland, a fighter pilot flying at Malta with No. 603 Squadron, later wrote of the boost in morale and confidence to hear Woodhall's directions as the RAF pilots flew to intercept the incoming bombing raids.[1][18] Another pilot wrote of Woodhall's constant, informative, presence on radio communications but also of his willingness to cede control of tactics to the pilots once the approaching bombers had been spotted.[19] By the middle of the year, the situation on Malta had improved following the arrival of reinforcements in the form of Supermarine Spitfire fighters. These had made an immediate impact and Woodhall was sent back to the United Kingdom.[1][20]
Later war service
On his return, Woodhall was posted to Fighter Command headquarters at Bentley Priory in a staff role. He returned to operations in 1944 with a posting to Italy, as commander of a Special Duties Wing. This was based at Brindisi, and operated a variety of aircraft to supply various resistance movements in central and southern Europe. Woodhall was mentioned in despatches for the second time in the King's Birthday Honours of 14 June 1945, and was also presented with a United States honour, the Legion of Merit.[1][21]
Later life
Woodhall retired from the RAF in July 1945 and moved his family to Canada and then, in 1950, New Zealand. Initially settling in Wellington, he worked for the Department of Civil Aviation. He later moved to Queenstown to work at the aerodrome there before retiring to Dunedin, where he died on 11 June 1968. Survived by his wife and three children, his remains were cremated and scattered at sea.[22][23]
Holland, James (2003). Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege, 1940–1943. London: Orion. ISBN978-0-75285-288-1.
Holland, Tony (1989). "A. B. Woodhall: Controlling Genius". In Lucas, Laddie (ed.). Thanks for the Memory: Unforgettable Characters in Air Warfare 1939–45. London: Stanley Paul & Co. pp. 135–137. ISBN0-09-173946-2.
Hough, Richard (1967). The Great Dreadnought: The Strange Story of H.M.S. Agincourt: The Mightiest Battleship of World War I. New York: Harper & Row. OCLC914101.
Rawlings, John (1976). Fighter Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: MacDonald & James. ISBN0-354-01028-X.
Ray, John (2002) [1994]. The Battle of Britain: Dowding and the First Victory, 1940. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN0-304-35677-8.
