John Salmond


Sir John Salmond

Air Marshal Sir John Salmond in 1925
Born(1881-07-17)17 July 1881
London, England
Died16 April 1968(1968-04-16) (aged 86)
Eastbourne, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army (1901–18)
Royal Air Force (1918–43)
Years of service1901–1933
RankMarshal of the Royal Air Force
CommandsChief of the Air Staff (1930–33)
Air Member for Personnel (1929–30)
Air Defence of Great Britain (1925–28)
Iraq Command (1922–24)
Inland Area (1920–22)
Southern Area (1919–20)
VI Brigade RFC (1916–17)
V Brigade RFC (1916)
II Brigade RFC (1916)
2nd Wing RFC (1915–16)
No. 3 Squadron RFC (1914–15)
No. 7 Squadron RFC (1914)
Battles / warsSecond Boer War
First World War
Second World War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Distinguished Service Order & Bar
Mentioned in Despatches (7)
Officer of the Legion of Honour (France)
Croix de guerre (France)
Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy
Commander of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
Croix de guerre (Belgium)
Order of the White Eagle (Russia)
Distinguished Service Medal (United States)

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Maitland Salmond, GCB, CMG, CVO, DSO & Bar (17 July 1881 – 16 April 1968) was a British military officer who rose to high rank in the Royal Flying Corps and then the Royal Air Force. During the First World War he served as a squadron commander, a wing commander and then as General Officer Commanding the RAF on the Western Front towards the end of the war. He went on to be Air Officer Commanding British Forces in Iraq in the early 1920s when he halted a Turkish invasion and sought to put down a Kurdish uprising against King Faisal, the British-sponsored ruler of Iraq. He was Chief of the Air Staff in the early 1930s and bitterly opposed the position taken by British politicians at the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva, which would have led to the UK's complete aerial disarmament. In the event the talks broke down when Adolf Hitler withdrew from the Conference in October 1933.