Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)
The Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS) was a senior appointment in the Royal Air Force. The incumbent was the deputy to the Chief of the Air Staff. The post existed from 1918 to 1969. Today, the Chief of the Air Staff's deputy is titled as the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff.
History
The post was created on 3 January 1918 as part of the preliminary work before the creation of the RAF and the incumbent sat on the Air Council. However, with the establishment of the RAF on 1 April 1918, the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff was removed from the Air Council. From the mid-1920s to 1938, the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff was double-hatted as the RAF's Director of Operations and Intelligence. In 1930, when Trenchard stepped down as Chief of the Air Staff, the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff was once again appointed to the Air Council.
Deputy Chiefs of the Air Staff
Holders of the post included:[1]
- 3 January 1918 Major General Mark Kerr
- 1 April 1918 Brigadier General Robert Marsland Groves
- 12 August 1918 Brigadier General Oliver Swann
- February 1919 Brigadier General Robert Marsland Groves (Also Director of Operations and Intelligence)[2]
- 8 September 1919 Air Commodore John Miles Steel (Also Director of Operations and Intelligence)[3]
- 12 April 1926 Air Commodore Cyril Newall (Also Director of Operations and Intelligence)[4]
- 6 February 1931 Air Commodore Charles Burnett (Also Director of Operations and Intelligence)[5]
- 1 February 1933 Air Vice-Marshal Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt (Also Director of Operations and Intelligence)[6]
- 26 January 1935 Air Vice-Marshal Christopher Courtney (Also Director of Operations and Intelligence)[7]
- 25 January 1937 Air Vice-Marshal Richard Peirse (Also Director of Operations and Intelligence)[8]
- 22 April 1940 Air Vice-Marshal Sholto Douglas[9]
- 25 November 1940 Air Vice-Marshal Arthur Harris[10]
- 1 June 1941 Air Vice-Marshal Norman Bottomley (from 3 May 1942 to 30 July 1943 the post was titled Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Operations))[11]
- September 1945 Air Marshal Sir Albert Durston
- 4 February 1948 Air Marshal Sir Hugh Walmsley
- 1 March 1950 Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Sanders
- 17 March 1952 Air Chief Marshal Sir John Baker
- 1 November 1952 Air Marshal Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman
- 9 November 1953 Air Marshal Sir Thomas Pike
- 4 July 1956 Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Tuttle
- 15 November 1959 Air Marshal Sir Charles Elworthy
- 18 July 1960 Air Marshal Sir Ronald Lees
- June 1963 Air Marshal Sir Christopher Hartley
- 1 April 1966 Air Marshal Sir Reginald Emson
- 30 January 1967 Air Marshal Sir Peter Wykeham
References
- Mackie, Colin. "Senior Royal Air Force Appointments" (PDF). gulabin.com.
- Barrass, M. B. "Air Commodore R M Groves". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation.
- Barrass, M. B. "Air Chief Marshal Sir John Steel". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation.
- Barrass, M. B. "Marshal of the RAF The Lord Newall of Clifton upon Dunsmoor". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation.
- Barrass, M. B. "Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation.
- "No. 33913". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 February 1933. p. 1180.
- Barrass, M. B. "Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Courtney". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation.
- Barrass, M. B. "Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation. Archived from the original on 20 November 2012.
- Barrass, M. B. "Marshal of the RAF Lord Douglas of Kirtleside". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation. Archived from the original on 4 January 2009.
- Barrass, M. B. "Marshal of the RAF Sir Arthur Harris". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation.
- Barrass, M. B. "Air Chief Marshal Sir Norman Bottomley". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation.
- Barrass, M. B. "Air Council Appointments". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation.