Benjamin Ball (RAF officer)

Last updated

Sir Benjamin Ball
Born(1912-09-06)6 September 1912
Died24 January 1977(1977-01-24) (aged 64)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Air Force
Years of service1934–69
Rank Air Vice Marshal
Commands held Signals Command (1966–69)
RAF Debden (1951–53)
Battles/wars Second World War
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Mentioned in Despatches

Air Vice Marshal Sir Benjamin Ball, KBE , CB (6 September 1912 – 24 January 1977) was a Royal Air Force officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Signals Command from 1966 until its disbandment in 1969.

RAF career

Ball joined the Royal Air Force as a cadet in 1934. [1] He served in the Second World War as a signals officer at RAF Bircham Newton and then at Headquarters RAF Reserve Command, as Chief Signals Officer in the Training Commands of the Royal Canadian Air Force and as Group Captain, Operations with No. 26 Group. [1] After the War he became Chief Signals Officer at Headquarters Bomber Command and then became Director of Signals in the British Joint Services Mission to Washington D. C. [1] He went on to be Station Commander at RAF Debden in 1951, Deputy Director of Operational Requirements at the Air Ministry in 1953 and Chief Signals Officer at Headquarters Bomber Command in 1957. [1] His last appointments were as Deputy Chief Signals Officer at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in 1960, as Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters Technical Training Command in 1963 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Signals Command in 1966 before retiring in 1969. [1]

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours List in 1969. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Strike Command</span> Former command of the UKs Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007 when it merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air Command. It latterly consisted of two formations – No. 1 Group RAF and No. 2 Group RAF. The last Commander-in-Chief was Air Chief Marshal Sir Joe French.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallace Kyle</span> Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal (1910-1988)

Air Chief Marshal Sir Wallace Hart Kyle, was an Australian who served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a senior commander and later as the 24th Governor of Western Australia. Born in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Kyle was commissioned into the RAF in 1929, and, having seen service in the Second World War and the Malayan Emergency, held a number of senior positions, including Vice-Chief of the Air Staff and commander-in-chief of the RAF's Bomber Command and Strike Command. He was made Governor of Western Australia in 1975, a position in which he served until 1980, later returning to England, where he died in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Ellington</span> British Army general and Marshal of the Royal Air Force (1877-1967)

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Leonard Ellington, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served in the First World War as a staff officer and then as director-general of military aeronautics and subsequently as controller-general of equipment. In the inter-war years he held command positions in the Middle East, in India and then in Iraq. He served as Chief of the Air Staff in the mid-1930s and in that role he implemented a plan, known as 'Scheme F'. This scheme implemented an increase in the size of the Royal Air Force to 187 squadrons within three years to counter the threat from Hitler's Germany. He also broke up the command known as "Air Defence of Great Britain" to create RAF Fighter Command, RAF Bomber Command, RAF Coastal Command and RAF Training Command. He then served as Inspector-General of the RAF until his retirement in 1940.

Air Vice Marshal Sidney Osborne Bufton, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the middle part of the 20th century. He played a major part in establishing the Pathfinder project, over the objections of Arthur Harris.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Anthony Wilkinson Heward, was a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) commander.

Air Chief Marshal Sir William John Stacey, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force in the 1970s and until his sudden death from cancer in 1981.

Air Marshal Sir Hugh Sidney Porter Walmsley, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during and after the Second World War. He was the final commander of RAF India and the unified Royal Indian Air Force before its division upon India's independence and partition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Earle</span> Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal (1907–1990)

Air Chief Marshal Sir Alfred Earle, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War who later served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff (1964–66), and Director General of British Defence Intelligence (1966–1968).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Barratt</span> Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal (1894–1966)

Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Sheridan Barratt, was an officer in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He acquired the nickname "Ugly".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Evill</span> Royal Air Force air marshal

Air Chief Marshal Sir Douglas Claude Strathern Evill, was an Australian-born British Royal Naval Air Service pilot and squadron commander during the First World War. Serving in the Royal Air Force between the wars, he was a senior air commander during the Second World War.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Henry Neil George Wheeler, was a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Fogarty</span>

Air Chief Marshal Sir Francis Joseph Fogarty, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War and also in the post-war years. During the First World War he served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. He was transferred to the RAF on its creation in 1918 and remained in the service during the inter-war years.

Air Marshal Sir Leslie Dalton Morris, was a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) commander in the middle of the twentieth century. He played a leading role in the use of signals in the Air Force both during and after the Second World War.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Denis Hensley Fulton Barnett, was a squadron commander and senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. In the post war years he held high command, serving as the British air commander during the Suez War and subsequently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Transport Command and the Commander of British Forces Cyprus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew McKee (RAF officer)</span> Royal Air Force Air Marshal (1902-1988)

Air Marshal Sir Andrew McKee, was a Royal Air Force officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Transport Command from 1955 to 1959.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Davis (RAF officer)</span> Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal (1911-1989)

Air chief marshal Sir John Gilbert Davis, was a Royal Air Force officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Training Command from 1968 to 1969.

Air Marshal Sir Paul Davie Holder, was a Royal Air Force officer who became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Coastal Command.

Air Marshal Sir Patrick Hunter Dunn, was a Scottish Royal Air Force officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Flying Training Command from 1964 to 1966.

Air Marshal Sir William Edward Coles & Bar, AFC was a Royal Air Force officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Technical Training Command from 1966 to 1968. Coles was also a British bobsledder who competed in the late 1940s as part of an RAF team.

Air Vice Marshal Sir George David Harvey, was a senior Royal Air Force officer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Vice-Marshal Sir Benjamin Ball
  2. "No. 44740". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1969. p. 7.
Military offices
Preceded byAir Officer Commanding-in-Chief Signals Command
1966–1969
Command disbanded