Sir Dermot Boyle | |
|---|---|
 Boyle in 1956 | |
| Born | 2 October 1904 Rathdowney, Queen's County, Ireland |
| Died | 5 May 1993 (aged 88) Sway, Hampshire, England |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | 1922–1960 |
| Rank | Marshal of the Royal Air Force |
| Commands | Chief of the Air Staff (1956–59) Fighter Command (1953–56) No.1 (Bomber) Group (1951–53) RAF Staff College (1947–48) No.11 Group (1945–46) No. 85 (Base) Group (1945) RAF Stradishall (1942–43) No. 83 Squadron (1937, 1940–41) |
| Battles / wars | Second World War Suez Crisis |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Air Force Cross Mentioned in Despatches (3) Commander of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Croix de Guerre (Belgium) |
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Dermot Alexander Boyle, GCB, KCVO, KBE, AFC (2 October 1904 – 5 May 1993) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served in the Second World War initially as a staff officer with the Advanced Air Striking Force in Reims in which capacity he organised the evacuation of the Force through Brest in May 1940. His war service included tours as a bomber squadron commander, as a station commander and also as an air group commander. He was Chief of the Air Staff in the late 1950s and, in that role, deployed British air power during the Suez Crisis in October 1956 and defended the RAF against the views of Duncan Sandys, the Minister for Defence, who believed that the V bomber force rendered manned fighter aircraft redundant.