Peter Charles Marshall was born on January 18 1931 in Birmingham.
A builder’s son, he was educated at Bishop Vesey’s grammar school, Sutton Coldfield, and had started to read Mining Engineering at Leeds when, in 1954, he decided to join the Royal Navy, learning to fly at the US Navy flying school at Pensacola, Florida.
In 1958 he qualified as an air warfare instructor. He flew more than a score of aircraft from single-engine trainers to jets and helicopters, and served in the aircraft carriers Centaur, Ark Royal, Eagle, and the Australian Melbourne. He also commanded 767 Naval Air Squadron at Yeovilton in 1969-70 before transferring to the Royal Australian Navy in 1972, in which he served for the next 18 years. He commanded VC 724 Squadron at NOWRA (NSW) from 1975 to 1977. His personal call sign was “Pegasus”.
After retiring from the RAN in 1990 he spent 10 years rebuilding a 42ft steel-hulled ketch on which he explored the coast of eastern Australia with his family.
Peter Marshall married Carolyn Barker in 1955, who survived his death on 03rd August 2013 with their 10 children.
