Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt

Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt in his office at Bomber Command Headquarters in High Wycombe, 1939-40

Sir Edgar Rainey Ludlow-Hewitt GCB , GBE , CMG , DSO , MC (born June 9, 1886 in Eckington , Worcestershire ; † August 15, 1973 ) was a senior British Air Force officer, most recently Air Chief Marshal , who served in both World Wars and in commanded the RAF Bomber Command in the early stages of World War II .

Life

Ludlow-Hewitt was born one of five children to a clergyman and educated at Radley College and the Royal Military College Sandhurst . In 1905 he became an officer in the Royal Irish Rifles, where he achieved the rank of lieutenant . He learned to fly at the Central Flying School in Upavon , Wiltshire, and received Certificate No. 887 of the Royal Aero Club . He became a pilot for the Royal Flying Corps and was the end of the year on the Western Front fighting No. 1 Squadron of the RFC as swarm leader . In September 1915, he became the squadron commander of No. BE2c equipped with aircraft . 15 Squadron and a few weeks later moved to No. 3 Squadron that flew the Morane monoplane . In February 1916 he was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel and commanded No. 3 (Corps) Wing of the RFC. In November 1917 he was appointed the RFC's first Inspector of Training and in April 1918, with the formation of the Royal Air Force , he became the command of the Training Division . At the end of May 1918 he again took over a field command with the X Brigade of the RAF and ended the war as Chief Staff Officer of the RAF in France.

After the war, Ludlow-Hewitt became Deputy Director of Training and in August 1919 was given the permanent rank of Group Captain . In 1921 he was appointed Air aide-de-camp of Monarch George V and in early 1922 he became the military secretary of the Minister of Aviation, Frederick Guest . In 1923 he was promoted to Air Commodore and worked as chairman of the Aerodrome Board . In 1926, Ludlow-Hewitt became Commandant of the RAF Staff College in Andover , his term of office lasted until 1930. He was then appointed Air Officer Commanding of the RAF Iraq Command , which he remained until 1932. In 1933 he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and Director of Operations and Intelligence in the Air Ministry , in which position he was promoted to Air Marshal . In 1935 Ludlow-Hewitt went to India, where he was Commander-in-Chief of the RAF in India until 1937 .

In September 1937 Ludlow-Hewitt took over command of the RAF Bomber Command from his predecessor John Miles Steel . His command, which lasted until the beginning of 1940, came at a time of increasing international tensions, in which Great Britain initially pursued a policy of appeasement , but at the same time stepped up its armaments efforts. During this time Ludlow-Hewitt tried to work towards a professionalization of the crews and an acceleration of the air armament, which he only partially succeeded. He knew only too well the limitations of British air power compared to the German ones, which led to the fact that air warfare in the first months of the Second World War was characterized by caution and restraint. The main objectives of the Bomber Command were naval facilities, and leaflet missions were also frequently flown. Ludlow-Hewitt was of the opinion that at least temporarily the training of the crews in the Operational Training Units had to be intensified, which would be at the expense of the strength of the Bomber Command at the front. Otherwise the crews would not be able to withstand the hard fighting that was to be expected. His pessimistic outlook, which was not shared in the Air Ministry, ultimately cost him his post. In early April 1940, he gave up his post to Charles Portal , who later that year was to rise to Chief of the Air Staff . Arthur Harris , Commander in Chief of Bomber Command from 1942, later stressed the correctness of the Ludlow-Hewitt approach. One of the projects started during Ludlow-Hewitt's tenure was that of a high-speed bomber, the later very successful de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito .

After his release, Ludlow-Hewitt was put on the more ceremonial post of Inspector General of the RAF, which he remained until his retirement after 40 years of service in 1945. He then became chairman of the board of directors of the College of Aeronautics and after resigning from this position in 1953 Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire . He died in 1973 at the age of 87.

Web links

Commons : Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Command Chiefs on raf.mod.uk
• Career data on rafweb.org