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Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, was a British Army commander during the Second World War. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, where he rose to become Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army by early 1941. In July 1941 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Theatre, but after initial successes, the war in North Africa turned against the British, and he was relieved of the post in 1942 during the crucial Alamein campaign.
Field Marshal Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction in both the First and the Second World War and, afterwards, as Governor General of Canada and the first Lord Lieutenant of Greater London in 1965.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force William Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside, 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 as 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.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford, was a senior Royal Air Force officer. He served as a bomber pilot in the First World War, and rose to become first a flight commander and then a squadron commander, flying light bombers on the Western Front.
Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett, was an Australian aviation pioneer and bomber pilot who rose to be the youngest air vice marshal in the Royal Air Force. He led the "Pathfinder Force" from 1942 to the end of the Second World War in 1945. He has been described as "one of the most brilliant technical airmen of his generation: an outstanding pilot, a superb navigator who was also capable of stripping a wireless set or overhauling an engine".
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder, was a senior Royal Air Force commander. He was a pilot and squadron commander in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and he went on to serve as a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the inter-war years when he served in Turkey, Great Britain and the Far East.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Philip Louis Vian & Two Bars was a Royal Navy officer who served in both World Wars.
Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty was the first Canadian-born president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1918–1943). He was responsible for building the Royal York Hotel and RMS Empress of Britain, and later helped establish Canadian Pacific Air Lines. During World War II, he co-ordinated Canadian shipping and rail transport before ill health forced him to retire. He was Chancellor of Queen's University (1919–1923) and chancellor of McGill University (1920–1943). A lifelong philanthropist, on his death he left half of his estate to charity. He left his home in Montreal's Golden Square Mile to McGill, and it was known as Beatty Hall for 70 years until its sale in 2016.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Forster Dickson,, was a Royal Naval Air Service aviator during the First World War, a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the inter-war years and a Royal Air Force commander during and after the Second World War. Dickson was Chief of the Air Staff in the mid-1950s, in which role his main preoccupation was the establishment of the V Force and the necessary supporting weapons, airfields and personnel. He also served as the first Chief of the Defence Staff in the late 1950s.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Samuel Charles Elworthy, Baron Elworthy, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served as commander of a squadron of Blenheim bombers and then as a station commander during the Second World War. He became Chief of the Air Staff in the mid-1960s and implemented the cancellation of the TSR-2 strike aircraft and the HS681 military transport aircraft programmes. He also became Chief of the Defence Staff in which role he oversaw the evacuation from Aden in November 1967 and had to respond to the growing crisis in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Grandy, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He was the only officer who fought and commanded a squadron during the Battle of Britain to reach the post of Chief of the Air Staff. In the latter role he implemented the final stages of the RAF's withdrawal from the Persian Gulf and the Far East, oversaw the ordering and subsequent cancellation of the F-111 strike aircraft and handed over Britain's nuclear deterrent role to the Royal Navy.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Denis Frank Spotswood, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. He fought in the Second World War as a flying boat pilot and then as a coastal reconnaissance squadron commander during Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. He served as a station commander in the late 1940s and early 1950s before becoming a senior air commander in the late 1950s. As the Chief of the Air Staff in the early 1970s he had a major role in implementing the defence savings demanded by the Heath Government in the face of economic difficulties at the time.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse,, served as a senior Royal Air Force commander.
Air Chief Marshal Sir James Milne Robb, was a senior Royal Air Force commander. After early service in the First World War with the Northumberland Fusiliers, Robb joined the Royal Flying Corps and became a flying ace credited with seven aerial victories. He was granted a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force in 1919 and commanded No. 30 Squadron RAF in the Iraqi revolt against the British. In 1939, Robb travelled to Canada to help establish the Empire Air Training Scheme, a massive training program that provided the Royal Air Force with trained aircrew from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Southern Rhodesia. He commanded No. 2 Group RAF of RAF Bomber Command and No. 15 Group RAF of RAF Coastal Command.
Air Marshal Sir Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond, was an Australian-born senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He rose from private soldier in World War I to air marshal in World War II. Drummond enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1914 and the following year saw service as a medical orderly during the Gallipoli campaign. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 and became a fighter ace in the Middle Eastern theatre, where he was awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order and Bar. Transferring to the RAF on its formation in 1918, he remained in the British armed forces for the rest of his life.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet,, commonly known as "Bomber" Harris by the press and often within the RAF as "Butch" Harris, was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) RAF Bomber Command during the height of the Anglo-American strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
Wing Commander Hugh Charles Kennard, DFC was a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II and later an entrepreneur in civil aviation.
Air Vice Marshal Reginald Leonard George Marix, was a British aviator, originally with the Royal Naval Air Service, who later reached air officer rank in the Royal Air Force. He is credited with being the first pilot to destroy a Zeppelin, when in October 1914 he bombed the airship sheds at Düsseldorf. A flying accident in 1916 ended his flying career, but he remained in the Royal Air Force, serving in various staff positions, and during the Second World War commanded two reconnaissance groups, and from 1943 to 1945 the group responsible for ferrying aircraft from North America to Europe.
Group Captain Francis Victor Beamish, was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War. After flying during the Battle of Britain he continued to lead fighter operations until he was killed in action in 1942.
Commando was a very long range Consolidated Liberator II aircraft adapted for passenger transport, to serve as the personal aircraft of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Commando disappeared without a trace on 27 March 1945 over the North Atlantic Ocean, while on a flight from RAF Northolt to Lajes Field in the Azores, en route to Ottawa in Canada. The cause of the disappearance of the aircraft remains unknown to this day.