Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside
Marshal of the Royal Air Force William Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside, GCB, MC, DFC (23 December 1893 – 29 October 1969) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. After serving as a pilot, then a flight commander and finally as a squadron commander during the First World War, he served as a flying instructor during the inter-war years before becoming Director of Staff Duties and then Assistant Chief of the Air Staff at the Air Ministry.
The Lord Douglas of Kirtleside
23 December 1893
Headington, England
29 October 1969 (aged 75)
Northampton, England
United Kingdom
British Army (1914–18)
Royal Air Force (1918–47)
1914–1947
British Zone of Occupation (1946–47)
British Air Forces of Occupation (1945–46)
Coastal Command (1944–45)
RAF Middle East Command (1943–44)
Fighter Command (1940–42)
RAF North Weald (1928–29)
No. 84 Squadron (1917–18)
No. 43 Squadron (1916–17)
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Military Cross
Distinguished Flying Cross
Mentioned in Despatches (3)
Croix de guerre (France)[1]
Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland)[2]
Order of the White Lion (Czechoslovakia)[3]
Grand Officer's Cross with Swords of the Order of the White Eagle (Yugoslavia)[4]
Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)[5][6]
Grand Cross of the Order of St Olav (Norway)[7]
Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)[8]
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange Nassau (Netherlands)[9]
Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)[10]
During the Second World War Douglas clashed with other senior commanders over strategy in the Battle of Britain. Douglas argued for a more aggressive engagement with a "Big Wing" strategy, i.e. using massed fighters to defend the United Kingdom against enemy bombers. He then became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Fighter Command in which role he was responsible for rebuilding the command's strength after the attrition of the Battle of Britain, but also for bringing it on the offensive to wrest the initiative in the air from the German Luftwaffe.
Douglas went on to be Air Officer Commanding in Chief of RAF Middle East Command in which role he was an advocate of Operation Accolade, a planned British amphibious assault on Rhodes and the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea, and was disappointed when it was abandoned. He became commander of the British Zone of Occupation in Germany after the war.
From 1949 to 1964 he served as chairman of British European Airways.
Early life[edit]
Born the son of Professor Robert Langton Douglas and his wife Margaret Jane Douglas (née Cannon), Douglas was educated at Emanuel School, Tonbridge School and Lincoln College, Oxford.[11]
Early military career[edit]
Douglas was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery on 15 August 1914.[12] In January 1915, following a disagreement with his commanding officer, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps joining No. 2 Squadron as an observer.[13] He soon trained as a pilot and earned Royal Aero Club certificate No 1301.[14] Promoted to lieutenant on 9 June 1915, he became a pilot with No. 14 Squadron at Shoreham in July 1915 and then transferred to No. 8 Squadron, flying B.E.2c aircraft on the Western Front, in August 1915.[15] Appointed a flight commander with the rank of temporary captain in December 1915, he joined No. 18 Squadron at Montrose in January 1916.[16] He was awarded the Military Cross on 14 January 1916.[17]
Douglas went on to be officer commanding No. 43 Squadron, flying Sopwith 1½ Strutters on the Western Front, in April 1916 and, having been promoted to temporary major on 1 July 1916, he became then officer commanding No. 84 Squadron, flying S.E.5s on the Western Front, in August 1917.[18] He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 8 February 1919.[19]
After the war Douglas worked briefly for Handley Page and as a commercial pilot before rejoining the Royal Air Force in 1920 after a chance meeting with Hugh Trenchard.[11] After being granted a permanent commission as a squadron leader on 25 March 1920,[20] Douglas attended the RAF Staff College and then served as a flight instructor four years.[15] Promoted to wing commander on 1 January 1925,[21] he continued his work as an instructor before attending the Imperial Defence College in 1927.[15] He became station commander at RAF North Weald in January 1928 and then joined the Air Staff at Headquarters Middle East Command in Khartoum in August 1929.[15] Promoted to group captain on 1 January 1932,[22] he became an instructor at the Imperial Defence College in June 1932 and then, having been promoted to air commodore on 1 January 1935,[23] he became Director of Staff Duties at the Air Ministry on 1 January 1936.[24] Promoted to air vice marshal on 1 January 1938,[25] he went on to be Assistant Chief of the Air Staff on 17 February 1938.[26]
Family[edit]
Lord Douglas of Kirtleside was married three times. First he married Beatrice May Hudd on 1 August 1919 at The Registry Office in Croydon, Surrey; they were childless and divorced in 1932. Secondly he married Joan Leslie (née Denny) in 1933; this marriage was also childless and ended in divorce in 1952. Thirdly he married Hazel Walker in 1955; they had one daughter, Katharine. [11]