Jack Brotherton-Ratcliffe obituary

My father, John Brotherton-Ratcliffe, generally known as "Jack", who has died aged 90, was the co-founder and owner of the Croudace Group, one of the most successful privately owned construction companies in the UK. The fifth of seven children, he was educated at Harrow school and Balliol College, Oxford, before joining the RAF in 1939 where he set a new record, of three hours, as the fastest time in which a trainee pilot gained his wings. He was posted initially as an instructor to 148 Squadron in Egypt in 1941, moved with the squadron to Libya in 1943 and then on to Brindisi in Italy. The squadron was primarily undertaking missions on behalf of the Special Operations Executive, dropping men and supplies into the Balkans and Poland. Jack survived two crash landings on these missions. In December 1943 he went down in the Gulf of Taranto. Then in January 1944, he crashed in northern Greece. The mission was to drop supplies to partisans fighting in Albania. One engine had failed on the outbound run, and, after he made the drop, the inboard engine also failed. This left Jack losing height in a mountainous area. The crew were instructed to bale out, with just Jack left to crash-land the Halifax. The next few weeks were spent hiding in the mountains before obtaining a boat to sail across the Adriatic to rejoin their squadron. Despite 90 missions, Jack lived to receive the DSO. On leaving the air force in 1946 he bought a house next door to Oliver Croudace, who was doing war repair work. Jack was attracted to the opportunities in the building industry, and joined Croudace as a partner. He bought Croudace out in 1950 and expanded operations from renovations to small housing estates to large housing estates. At its peak, Croudace Ltd was building 1,200 houses a year. Jack finally stepped down from the board in 2001, aged 81. Jack was devoted to his wife Rona, to whose quiet help and support he attributed his success. She died in 1995. He is survived by two sons and two daughters, and nine grandchildren.