John Hearson

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John Hearson
Born(1883-08-05)5 August 1883
Died9 January 1964(1964-01-09) (aged 80)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch British Army (1901–18)
Royal Air Force (1918–40)
Years of service1901–27
1937–40
Rank Air Commodore
Commands held No. 30 (Balloon Barrage) Group (1937–39)
No. 1 Air Defence Group (1927)
Special Reserve and Auxiliary Air Force (1925–27)
15th Wing RFC (1916–17)
No. 5 Squadron RFC (1915–16)
Battles/wars First World War
Second World War
Awards Companion of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches
Order of Saint Anna, 3rd Class with Swords (Russia)

Air Commodore John Glanville Hearson, CB, CBE, DSO (5 August 1883 – 9 January 1964) was a squadron and wing commander and senior staff officer in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, and a senior commander in the fledgling Royal Air Force (RAF) during the 1920s.

Distinguished Service Order UK military decoration

The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat. Since 1993 all ranks have been eligible.

Royal Flying Corps former air warfare service of the British Army

The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War, until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance. This work gradually led RFC pilots into aerial battles with German pilots and later in the war included the strafing of enemy infantry and emplacements, the bombing of German military airfields and later the strategic bombing of German industrial and transport facilities.

Royal Air Force Aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world. Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.

Contents

Military career

Pearson was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 31 July 1902. [1] He transferred to the Royal Air Force on its formation.

Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1a rank.

Royal Engineers corps of the British Army

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army.

He reached the rank of brigadier general in 1917, and became the RAF's first Director of Training on the service's formation in April 1918. Remaining in the RAF after the war, he was promoted to air commodore on 30 June 1923. [2] In the first half of the 1920s he held senior positions on RAF Iraq Command, the British organisation responsible for maintaining control of Iraq.

Brigadier general or Brigade general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000 troops. In some countries a brigadier general is informally designated as a one-star general (OF-6).

Air commodore is a one-star rank and the most junior general rank of the air-officer which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence such as Zimbabwe, and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. The name of the rank is always the full phrase and is never shortened to Commodore, which is a rank in various naval forces.

Iraq Command was the Royal Air Force (RAF) commanded inter-service command in charge of British forces in Iraq in the 1920s and early 1930s, during the period of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. It continued as British Forces in Iraq until 1941 when it was replaced by AHQ Iraq. It consisted of Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, British Army, Commonwealth and locally raised units, commanded by an RAF officer normally of Air Vice-Marshal rank.

Towards the end of 1925 Hearson was appointed Air Officer Commanding the Special Reserve and Auxiliary Air Force which later became the Air Defence Group and then No. 1 (Air Defence) Group. Hearson retired from the RAF in 1927 but returned to service in the build up before the Second World War to establish and command the UK's barrage balloon organisation.

No. 1 Group RAF Royal Air Force operations group

No. 1 Group of the Royal Air Force is one of the two operations groups in Air Command, the other being the No. 2 Group. Today, the group is referred to as the Air Combat Group, as it controls the RAF's combat fast-jet aircraft and has airfields in the UK, as well as RAF Support Unit Goose Bay in Canada. The group headquarters is located alongside Headquarters Air Command at RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The current Air officer commanding No 1 Group is Air Vice-Marshal Harvey Smyth.

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References

  1. ↑ "No. 27467". The London Gazette . 22 August 1902. p. 5465.
  2. ↑ "No. 32841". The London Gazette . 3 July 1923. p. 4621.
Military offices
Preceded by
Guy Livingston 		Chief Staff Officer, HQ Training Division RFC
1917–1918		Royal Flying Corps subsumed into RAF
New title
RAF established
 Director of Training
1918–1919		Succeeded by
Philip Game
As Director of Training and Organisation
Vacant
No. 30 Group disbanded from 1919 to 1937
 Air Officer Commanding No. 30 (Balloon Barrage) Group
1937–1939		Succeeded by
W J Y Guilfoyle
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