As Secretary of State for Air, Philip Sassoon was Honorary C.O. of No. 601 (County of London) Squadron. The Squadron was nicknamed ‘The Millionaires’ Squadron' because it was reported to have six millionaire members.
As Under-Secretary of State for Air, he carried out the first general inspection of British overseas air stations, flying his own aircraft. When he died in 1939, aged 50, of complications from flu, his ashes were scattered by his squadron over the airfield he had built at his home in Trent Park.