Background
Rothwell was born in Bristol, the son of a vicar. His education was cut short by the early death of his father, resulting in him in taking a job with Imperial Tobacco.
Rothwell was born in Bristol, the son of a vicar. His education was cut short by the early death of his father, resulting in him in taking a job with Imperial Tobacco.
He was the eldest of 7 children and was educated at Street John"s School, Leatherhead.
He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1938 and joined 221 Squadron after pilot training. In early 1942 Rothwell transferred from Iceland to the Special Duties Wellington flight based on Malta. The Special Duties group flew with the Royal Navy to locate enemy convoys, and bring in ships or aircraft, dropping flares, observing results and also bombing themselves.
He arrived during one of the coldest winters on record and was billeted in a former leper colony.
In an interview Rothwell said "lieutenant was freezing. The boys were all drinking gin with hot water and eating tiny pickled onions to help them forget the cold."
After the billets were destroyed by enemy action the squadron was moved to the seaplane base at Lalafrana.
After their accommodation at Lalafrana was again destroyed, they were forced to live in nearby caves, where they had to endure vicious sand bugs. Later in the war, Rothwell was brought back to the United Kingdom where he undertook instructing and then moved to a Halifax flying meteorological squadron.
When he was demobbed, Rothwell had flown 158 operational sorties.
