Robert Linton Ragg was born on April 9, 1901, the son of Robert Stewart Ragg, MA (Oxon) and Margaret Elizabeth Christie. He married Louie Margaret Moir in 1928. Ragg was educated at Dragon School, Oxford and Dulwich College. He became a Pilot Officer with the Royal Air Force on January 15, 1921, serving in Iraq from 1922 to 1924, often flying with Bert Harris, bomb aimer, while serving in No. 45 Squadron, earning him the GSM with Kurdistan clasp. Upon his return, he was designated an Experimental Pilot at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough from 1925 to 1929. While at the Establishment, he was awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society's Plicher Memorial Prize in 1926 and the Air Force Cross in 1927. He graduated from the Royal Air Force Staff College at Andover in 1937. During the Second World War, he obtained two positions: Command Navigation Officer, Bomber Command (1939-1940) and Senior Air Staff Officer No. 15 Group (1943-1944, despatches). Post-War, he saw a number of appointments, including: Deputy Air Officer Commanding No. 222 Group, Ceylon (1944-1945, despatches), Air Officer Commanding, British Armed Forces, S.E.A. (later Air Headquarters India) (1945-1946, despatches), Air Officer Commanding No. 63 Group RAF (1946-1948), Senior Air Staff Officer Transport Command RAF (1948-1949), Senior Air Staff Officer, Far East Air Force (1949-1951), Director-General of Personnel (II), Air Ministry (February-September 1952) and Air Officer Commanding No. 18 Group RAF (Pitreavie Castle, Dunfermline, Fife) and Senior Air Force Officer, Scotland, and Air Commander, Northern Sub-Area, Allied Atlantic Command, NATO (September 1952 - March 1955). Ragg was awarded the Most Honourable Order of the Bath Companion C.B. (Military) in 1949, awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Commander (CBE) in 1945 (London Gazette 18, January 1, 1945) and awarded the China (Republic) Order of the Cloud and Banner, 4th Class in 1945 (London Gazette 702, February 11, 1947). He was cited in the London Gazette on numerous occasions, including: November 5, 1943, he was granted the rank of Group Captain (war subs) (L.G. 5589, December 24, 1943), MID for Air Commodores (L.G. 286, January 14, 1944), December 1, 1943, he was named to be Air Commander (temporary) (L.G. 403, January 21, 1944), MID for Air Commodores (L.G. 2613, June 8, 1944), and June 1, 1944, he was to be Wing Commander to Group Captain (L.G. 507, January 23, 1945). In addition, he was named Air-Vice Marshal on January 1, 1948. Ragg retired from the Royal Air Force on April 29, 1955 but was kept busy in his retirement years. He was named Bursar at Gordonstoun School (1955-1957), was one of Her Majesty's Commanders at Queen Victoria School, Dunblane (1955-1957), named County Commander for Scouts at Cornwall (1958-1962), named Chairman of the Cornwall County Air Training Corps Committee and a member of the Memorial Board of Governors at Truro Cathedral School. He died on December 19, 1973, at Somerset, at the age of 72.
