William Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside

The Lord Douglas of Kirtleside
Air Marshal Sholto Douglas in 1940 by Herbert James Gunn
Born	(1893-12-23)23 December 1893 Headington, England
Died	29 October 1969(1969-10-29) (aged 75) Northampton, England
Buried at	St Clement Danes, London
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army (1914–18) Royal Air Force (1918–47)
Years of service	1914–47
Rank	Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Commands held	British 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/wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Military Cross Distinguished Flying Cross Mentioned in Despatches (3) Croix de guerre (France) Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland) Order of the White Lion (Czechoslovakia) Grand Officer's Cross with Swords of the Order of the White Eagle (Yugoslavia) Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) Grand Cross of the Order of St Olav (Norway) Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange Nassau (Netherlands) Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)

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 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.