Former British Intelligence Officer To Speak on “Lies, Spies and Tinfoil”

A retired British intelligence officer will be the speaker hosted by the No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum on August 31 at 7 pm. “Lies, Spies and Tin Foil” will be the subject of his talk to be held at the terminal building of Terrell Municipal Airport, 400 British Flying  School Boulevard.

“Our speaker is Ian Foulkes, the son of one of our last living cadets, Len Miller, who was in one of the final classes before the civilian flying school closed in 1945, “explained BFTS Board Chairman Bill Huthmacher.  “While I was visiting his father in England, I learned Ian would be in this country later this month and promptly invited him to come to Terrell to speak to us.”

Mr. Foulkes spent almost 20 years in the British Army Royal Corps of Signals after graduating from the Army Apprentices College at Harrogate. He has been stationed in Germany, Ireland, Norway, Bosnia, and worked with the III US Corps from Fort Hood, providing the American officers access to the battlefield digital communications system, Ptarmigan.  This attachment was both Check Forge and Reforged 87.  He served in a number of Signals Intelligence units.  He was also exposed to the nerve agent, sarin gas, at the Porton Down research establishment.

“Mr. Foulkes jokes that his Long Service and Good Conduct medal, which he received in 1997, is usually referred to as the ‘15 years undetected crime medal’,” explained Museum Executive Director Patrick Hotard, “so I’m expecting some interesting stories. In particular, he will talk about Operation Fortitude, the Allied deception plan that was part of the D-Day planning.  After retiring from the military, he earned a master’s degree in museum and curatorial management.