Edward Ellington

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Ellington GCB, CMG, CBE
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Ellington
Born	(1877-12-30)30 December 1877 Kensington, London
Died	13 June 1967(1967-06-13) (aged 89) Wandsworth, London
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army (1897–1918) Royal Air Force (1918–40)
Years of service	1897–1940
Rank	Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Commands	Inspector-General of the RAF (1937–39) Chief of the Air Staff (1933–37) Air Member for Personnel (1931–33) Air Defence of Great Britain (1929–31) Iraq Command (1926–28) RAF India (1923–26) RAF Middle East (1922–23)
Battles / wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Commander of the Order of the British Empire Mentioned in Despatches (4) Knight of the Legion of Honour (France) Order of Saint Stanislaus, 2nd Class (Russia)

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Leonard Ellington, GCB, CMG, CBE (30 December 1877 – 13 June 1967) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force.^[1] He served in the First World War as a staff officer and then as director-general of military aeronautics and subsequently as controller-general of equipment. In the inter-war years he held command positions in the Middle East, in India and then in Iraq. He served as Chief of the Air Staff in the mid-1930s and in that role he implemented a plan, known as 'Scheme F'. This scheme implemented an increase in the size of the Royal Air Force to 187 squadrons (five bomber squadrons for every two fighter squadrons, reflecting the dominance of the bomber strategy at the time) within three years to counter the threat from Hitler's Germany. He also broke up the command known as "Air Defence of Great Britain" to create RAF Fighter Command, RAF Bomber Command, RAF Coastal Command and RAF Training Command. He then served as Inspector-General of the RAF until his retirement in 1940.