Mr. T.J. Gardner of Maple Avenue, Pontefract, has been placed on the Retired list of the Royal Air Force with the rank of Squadron Leader. Mr. Gardner, who served nine-and-a-half-years in the two world wars, was six years in the Air Ministry Intelligence Branch in the last war and for three years was the Chief Intelligence Officer of a northern command. He did much work with MI5 and MI9 and was responsible for the capture of two German spies. A great deal of his work dealt with organising escapes by British airman. 

During the first world war Mr. Gardner was among the first pilots to operate flying boats on anti-submarine patrols, and was commissioned in the Royal Naval Air Service before it was amalgamated with the Royal Flying Corps to become the R.A.F. He was severely wounded in the First World War and was slightly injured in the second.