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Sir Charles Portal

The Viscount Portal of Hungerford
Charles Portal 1947.jpg
Marshal of the RAF Sir Charles Portal, 1947
Nickname(s) Peter
Born (1893-05-21)21 May 1893
Hungerford, Berkshire
Died 22 April 1971(1971-04-22) (aged 77)
West Ashling, West Sussex
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army (1914–18)
Royal Air Force (1918–45)
Years of service 1914–45
Rank Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Commands held Chief of the Air Staff (1940–46)
Bomber Command (1940)
Air Member for Personnel (1939–40)
Aden Command (1934–35)
No. 7 Squadron (1927–28)
No. 1 Wing (1919)
No. 16 Squadron (1917–18)
Battles/wars First World War
Second World War
Awards Knight of the Order of the Garter
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Member of the Order of Merit
Distinguished Service Order & Bar
Military Cross
Mentioned in Despatches (3)
External image
Portrait in oils of Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford, KG, GCB, OM, DSO & Bar, MC, DL (21 May 1893 – 22 April 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force officer. In the First World War he was a pilot, then a flight commander and then a squadron commander flying light bombers on the Western Front. In the early stages of the Second World War he was commander-in-chief of Bomber Command in which role he advocated strategic area bombing against German industrial areas, the same sort of targets that the Luftwaffe was already targeting in the United Kingdom. He was then Chief of the Air Staff during the rest of the War and in that role he fended off an attempt by the Royal Navy to take over RAF Coastal Command as well as an attempt by the British Army to establish their own Army Air Arm. He was also an advocate of the need for a renewed strategic bombing offensive. In retirement Portal was chairman of British Aluminium and unsuccessfully fought in the "Aluminium War" against a hostile takeover bid by Sir Ivan Stedeford's Tube Investments; he then became chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation.


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