Miles Thomas

(William) Miles Webster Thomas, Baron Thomas, known as Sir Miles Thomas, or Lord Thomas, DFC (2 March 1897 – 8 February 1980) was Managing Director of the Morris Motors, 1940–1947, Chairman of the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC, later to become British Airways), 1949–1956, Chairman of the merger broker Chesham Amalgamations, and President and Chairman of the National Savings Committee.

He was born in 1897 in Cefn Mawr, Wrexham, Wales, the son of a property owner who died the following year. He went to Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire, England.

After school, during which time his major interests were engineering and transport, in World War I, he joined an Armoured Car Squadron. After fighting through the German East African Campaign, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps qualifying for his wings in Egypt. He subsequently served with an operational squadron in Mesopotamia, Persia and south Russia, being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for aerial combat and low ground strafing.

After the First World War, he became associated with William Morris, Lord Nuffield and in 1941, became Chairman of the Cruiser Tank Production Group and a member of the Government's Advisory Committee. He was knighted in 1943.