TOM MOULSON
Tom Moulson was born on November 8th, 1930 in Manchester England, the son of an ex-army sergeant who saw service in Egypt during the Great War. As a child Tom was briefly evacuated to a suburb of Manchester during WW2 and then moved to London where he joined the Air Training Corps. From 1949 to 1950 Tom trained as a National Service pilot at Feltwell, Norfolk and converted to jets at Middleton- St-George, Co. Durham. Tom flew with 601 Squadron from 1950 till disbandment in 1957. After 601, Tom was a sales and marketing executive with Nestle and Ford Motor Company before becoming a partner in a consulting company. Tom is now retired in Newport Beach, California.
The Flying Sword: Tom was approached by Fred Tomlinson (News Editor of the London Observer) who was beginning to put together the history of 601 Squadron and needed help. Fred found this a daunting task and eventually gave up. Tom tried to keep it going, but when it was rejected by Wiedenfeld & Nicholson (at a time when interest in war books had waned) he temporarily gave up too. Tom’s job took him to the US in 1959 where he found renewed energy and hit on the idea of discreet chapters without linkage and steadily shifting the mood from pre-war to war and then post-war. This made a big difference and the book was accepted by MacDonald & Co on its first offering and published in 1964.
In 2014 Tom revised his book, added additional information and published a new volume through Pen and Sword with the new title of ‘The Millionaire’s Squadron’. We were privileged to assist Tom in this effort.
Tom has been an incredible source of information for our research into the squadron, and his kindness and endless patience in answering our many questions has been of immense value and very greatly appreciated.
Click on the link below for photographs: