Jonathan Tod: An Obituary Recalling an Air Accident in Malta in the 1960s
Vice-Admiral Sir Jonathan Tod, who has died aged 86, was a distinguished naval airman who flew more than 2,000 hours in 25 types of aircraft, and commanded the carrier Illustrious.
After his early career flying, taking command of two ships, and exposure as a staff officer in the Ministry of Defence, Tod’s talent was obvious. Even so, he was surprised when he was promoted early to captain in 1980 and sent to the Cabinet Office.
There, he headed the assessments team analysing current intelligence from the Caribbean and Central and South America. Tod’s reports were widely read, and his daily assessments were distributed to the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet colleagues, and to friendly foreign governments.
There were growing tensions over the Falklands Islands: the junta in Buenos Aires was not negotiating in good faith over the islands’ future, and neither the Foreign Office nor the MoD were taking its sabre-rattling seriously.
In July 1981 Tod told the Joint Intelligence Committee that if the Argentines were to conclude that there was no peaceful solution to the “Malvinas” question, then they were capable of mounting an invasion swiftly and with little warning. The FO rubbished this as scaremongering, and the intelligence watch on the Argentines was scaled down. But Tod stuck to his guns, and in October he warned that threats emanating from the Argentine regime were not disinformation.
From April 1982, once the Argentines had invaded the islands, Tod kept up a rolling assessment based on open press reporting from South America. Then, when the secret intelligence services turned their efforts to preventing the resupply of Exocet missiles to the Argentine forces, Tod transcended his own role and inspired the team’s efforts, constantly reminding them of the significance of their work and the risks being run by the men and women who were in harm’s way.
Tod’s creative and imaginative work was appreciated, at least, by the Cabinet Secretary Sir Robert Armstrong, who ensured that Tod was appointed CBE in the Falklands War honours list.
Tod gave unpublished evidence to the Falklands Islands Inquiry led by Lord Franks, but when he read the report, which concluded that the Argentines’ unprovoked aggression could not have been foreseen, he marked it 5 out 10.
Jonathan James Richard Tod was born on March 26 1939 in Pune, India, where his father was serving with the Royal Engineers in Slim’s 14th “Forgotten” Army, who went on to fight the Japanese. The family returned home by sea in 1945, and it was the sight of warships manoeuvring off Gibraltar which inspired young Tod to want to be a frigate captain. When his mother learnt of his ambition, she said: “Admiral Sir Jonathan – that sounds very nice. You do that, dear.”
Educated at Gordonstoun, where his energy and enthusiasm were not always matched by his academic prowess, Tod scraped into Dartmouth in 1957 as a special-entry cadet aged 18. His first ship as a complement officer was the minesweeper Houghton, which he navigated from the Mediterranean to the Far East.
Tod joined the first all-jet pilot course and earned his wings in 1962, before flying the Scimitar with 800 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) from the carrier Ark Royal. “When you first opened the throttles you really were living,” he recalled of the Scimitar. “Only the Lightning could outpace it.”
Next, Tod flew the Buccaneer bomber in 750 and 736 NAS, before becoming senior pilot in 803, 801 and 800 NAS in the carrier Hermes.
His flying was not without incident. Once, when flying a Sea Venom from Hal Far in Malta, Tod made a wheels-up landing in a sea of foam which had been spread over the runway. He brought his aircraft to a halt, put the safety pins in the ejection seat and climbed out to the applause of the “goofers”, reporting to the station commanding officer: “Aircraft safely recovered, Sir!”
While qualifying as an air warfare instructor, he narrowly escaped death in October 1965 when his Indian naval wingman crashed into his Hunter at 400 knots. Tod reacted instinctively, and later recalled only the noise of the sudden collision, followed by silence as he drifted on his parachute towards a farmhouse chimney and landed in a field of concerned cows. He thought about the headlines if the news broke: “Indians crash over Scotland.” Two days later he was flying again.
At the end of March 1968, while based at Lossiemouth, Tod bombed the oil tanker Torrey Canyon, which was spilling oil after grounding between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The tanker could not be reached by small ships, and earlier attempts to set it afire had been put out by the high seas.
Eventually, using 1,000lb bombs, all Torrey Canyon’s tanks were ruptured. “The plume of black smoke was visible from 250 miles away,” Tod recalled. “There was little navigation to do, just point towards the smoke.”
Promoted lieutenant-commander in 1969, Tod was senior pilot in 800 NAS flying the Buccaneer from the fleet carrier Eagle: “If you enjoy driving a bulldozer at low level at 500 knots in the Scottish Highlands, there’s nothing quite like it! A really lovely aeroplane to fly, as strong as a horse, very well behaved, and at low level there were very few who could catch it.”
In 1971 Tod received the Sandison Trophy, awarded annually to the pilot with the most outstanding officer-like qualities and proficiency as a strike pilot. Next, he was a divisional officer at Dartmouth, where one of his notable achievements was arranging for a new Harrier “jump-jet” to land at the college.
Promoted commander in 1973, he was second-in-command of the guided-missile destroyer Devonshire, and, briefly, her captain during a period in refit.
Tod’s first experience as a desk officer in the MoD was in the directorate of naval operational requirements, where he was responsible for long-term costings. He was rewarded by command of the anti-submarine frigate Brighton in the West Indies and on exercises in the North Atlantic.
After the Cabinet Office, he was a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1983, and the Director of the Defence Programme, a new organisation on the central, tri-service staff of the MoD.
Next, he commanded the destroyer Fife, and as captain of the Dartmouth Training Squadron he gave a new generation of men their first experience of life at sea.
The command of the carrier Illustrious was the highlight of his seagoing career, taking part in Exercise Teamwork, a major Nato operation in defence of Norway against a Soviet maritime threat. Tod never forgot his roots in naval aviation and frequently visited the maintenance crews in the hangar.
Promoted to rear-admiral in 1989, he was Flag Officer Portsmouth, and in 1990 Assistant Chief of Defence Staff responsible for nuclear and defence policy, liaising with Eastern European countries over nuclear arms reductions.
In 1994 Tod was promoted to Vice-Admiral and Deputy Commander of the Fleet, and two years later he fulfilled his mother’s dream when he was appointed KCB.
After the Navy, Tod was president of the Sea Cadets when they merged with the Marine Society. He lived in Devon, in the South Hams, where he sailed a gaff-rigged boat on the Kingsbridge estuary and built a solar-powered Edwardian-style launch.
Jonathan Tod married, in 1962, Claire Dixon; he nursed her after a serious riding accident and helped her learn to walk again, and cared for her again through her terminal illness until her death in 2015. He is survived by their two sons.
Vice-Admiral Sir Jonathan Tod, born March 26 1939, died September 16 2025