Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside

Marshal of the Royal Air Force The Right Honourable

The Lord Douglas of Kirtleside
Born(1893-12-23)23 December 1893
Headington, England
Died29 October 1969(1969-10-29) (aged 75)
Northampton, England
Buried
St Clement Danes, London
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army (1914–18)
Royal Air Force (1918–47)
Years of service1914–1947
RankMarshal of the Royal Air Force
CommandsBritish 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)
Battles / warsFirst World War
Second World War
AwardsKnight 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]

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.

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.

  1. ^ "No. 32960". The London Gazette. 29 July 1924. p. 5723.
  2. ^ "No. 35577". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 May 1942. p. 2334.
  3. ^ "No. 35858". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 January 1943. p. 270.
  4. ^ "No. 36341". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 January 1944. p. 430.
  5. ^ "No. 37242". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 August 1945. p. 4342.
  6. ^ "No. 36630". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 July 1944. p. 3524.
  7. ^ "No. 37300". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 October 1945. p. 4957.
  8. ^ "No. 37712". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 September 1946. p. 4455.
  9. ^ "No. 37758". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 October 1946. p. 5079.
  10. ^ "No. 37992". The London Gazette. 20 June 1947. p. 2799.