Michael Beetham

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael James Beetham, was a Second World War bomber pilot and a high-ranking commander in the Royal Air Force from the 1960s to the 1980s. As Chief of the Air Staff during the Falklands War, he was involved in the decision to send the Task Force to the South Atlantic. At the time of his death, Beetham was one of only six people holding his service's most senior rank and, excluding Prince Philip's honorary rank, he had the longest time in that rank, making him the senior Marshal of the Royal Air Force.

17 May 1923

Born on the same birth day (17 May): Abigail Raye • Bill Bruford • Francesco Pasquale Ricci • Franz Sondheimer • Friedrich-Wilhelm Kiel • George Sheldon (diver) • Gilles Quénéhervé • Jien • Marshall Applewhite • Reynato Puno • Ronald Wayne • Timo Simonlatser

Born in the same month (May 1923): Ara Parseghian • Bernard Clavel • Edith Fellows • Ellsworth Kelly • Eugene Wright • Evelyn Ward • György Ligeti • Harry Watson (ice hockey, born 1923) • Hugh Shearer • Jean-Louis Roux • John Parker, 6th Earl of Morley • Joseph Heller • Mrinal Sen • Rainier III, Prince of Monaco • Richard Avedon • Vernon Biever • Victoria Fromkin • William C. Campbell (golfer)