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Hugh Trenchard

The Viscount Trenchard
Sir Hugh Trenchard (cropped).jpg
Trenchard in RAF full dress c.1930
Nickname(s) The Camel (1890s)
Boom (c. 1912 onwards)
Born (1873-02-03)3 February 1873
Taunton, England
Died 10 February 1956(1956-02-10) (aged 83)
London, England
Buried at RAF Chapel, Westminster Abbey
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army(1893–18)
Royal Air Force (1918–30)
Years of service 1893–1930
Rank Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Commands held Chief of the Air Staff
Independent Air Force
Royal Flying Corps in the Field
First Wing, RFC
Military Wing, RFC
Southern Nigeria Regiment
23rd Mounted Infantry Regiment (acting)
Battles/wars Second Boer War
World War I
World War II (semi-officially)
Awards Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Member of the Order of Merit
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Companion of the Distinguished Service Order
(Full list)
Other work Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
Chairman of the United Africa Company
Signature Trenchard signature.svg
External media
Images
Major General Trenchard
Trenchard in Royal Scots Fusiliers uniform
Major General Trenchard in full dress
Sir Hugh Montague Trenchard in RAF Uniform
Trenchard with Price Henry at an aerial pageant at Hendon
Lord and Lady Sykes with Churchill and Trenchard at Hendon
Trenchard at the opening of the Metropolitan Police laboratory at Hendon
Trenchard talking to his son, also named Hugh, at Eton
Lord Trenchard in 1940
Lord Trenchard speaking to Air Marshal Sir Peter Drummond
Trenchard speaks with USAF General Leon Johnson
Trenchard's Funeral
Harold MacMillan unveiling a statue of Trenchard by the Embankment
Viscount Trenchard of Wolfeton by Beresford
Audio
Broadcast of Lord Trenchard's appeal made on behalf of the RAF Benevolent Fund in 1941

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force. He has been described as the Father of the Royal Air Force.

During his formative years Trenchard struggled academically, failing many examinations and only just succeeding in meeting the minimum standard for commissioned service in the British Army. As a young infantry officer, Trenchard served in India and with the outbreak of the Boer War, he volunteered for service in South Africa. While fighting the Boers, Trenchard was critically wounded and as a result of his injury, he lost a lung, was partially paralysed and returned to Great Britain. On medical advice Trenchard travelled to Switzerland to recuperate and boredom saw him taking up bobsleighing. After a heavy crash, Trenchard found that his paralysis was gone and that he could walk unaided. Following further recuperation, Trenchard returned to active service in South Africa.

After the end of the Boer War, Trenchard saw service in Nigeria where he was involved in efforts to bring the interior under settled British rule and quell intertribal violence. During his time in West Africa, Trenchard commanded the Southern Nigeria Regiment for several years.

In Summer 1912, Trenchard learned to fly and gained his aviator's certificate (No. 270) on 31 July flying a Henry Farman biplane of the Sopwith School of Flying at Brooklands. He was subsequently appointed as second in command of the Central Flying School. He held several senior positions in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, serving as the commander of the Royal Flying Corps in France from 1915 to 1917. In 1918, he briefly served as the first Chief of the Air Staff before taking up command of the Independent Air Force in France. Returning as Chief of the Air Staff under Winston Churchill in 1919, Trenchard spent the following decade securing the future of the Royal Air Force. He was Metropolitan Police Commissioner in the 1930s and a defender of the RAF in his later years. Trenchard is recognized today as one of the early advocates of strategic bombing.


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Wikipedia

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