George Philip Chamberlain

George Philip Chamberlain CB OBE ( August 18, 1905 - November 2, 1995 ) was a British Air Force officer in the Royal Air Force , who last held the rank of Major General ( Air Vice Marshal ) between 1954 and 1957 as Head of Administration AOA ( Air Officer in charge of Administration ) in the attack command ( RAF Fighter Command ).

Life

Military training and time before World War II

Chamberlain began his aviation training in 1923 as a flight cadet in the A-Squadron of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell , the officers' school of the British Air Force, and was a member of the college hockey team . After completing his training, he was accepted into the RAF as a professional soldier ( Permanent Commission ) on July 30, 1925 , and after his simultaneous promotion to lieutenant ( pilot officer ), he was a pilot at No. 25 Squadron RAF , where he was a biplane - fighter aircraft of type Gloster Grebe flew. After his promotion to Lieutenant ( Flying Officer ) on 30 January 1927, he was on 14 April 1927 telecommunications officer with biplane fighter aircraft of the type Bristol F.2 equipped No. 5th Squadron RAF . He attended from September 1, 1930, the Electrical and Radio School ( Electrical and Wireless School ) and got there on 5 November in 1930 was promoted to Captain ( Flight Lieutenant ).

After completing his training at the electrical engineering and radio school, Chamberlain became a communications officer at the RAF Upavon military airfield on July 21, 1931 and then on September 26, 1932 an officer in the communications staff of the headquarters of the Wessex Bombing Area , one of the three areas of air defense of Great Britain ADGB ( Air Defense of Great Britain ). After it was used in the RAF air force depot from July 25, 1934 onwards, he became aviation commander on March 14, 1934 and, from August 1935, acting commander ( commanding officer ) of the Bristol Bulldog biplane fighter aircraft equipped with No. 17 Squadron RAF .

Chamberlain attended RAF Staff College, Andover , from January 21, 1936 , and on January 2, 1937, became an officer in the communications staff of No. 16 Group RAF , in which a month later, on February 1, 1937, he was promoted to Major ( Squadron Leader ). Subsequently, on November 7, 1938, he took over the function of group communications officer of No. 18. Group RAF .

Second World War

At the beginning of the Second World War , at the beginning of the Battle of Britain in 1940 , Chamberlain became the first commander of the FIU ( Fighter Interception Unit ) at the RAF Tangmere Air Force Base , which was equipped with Bristol Blenheim fighter aircraft and was part of the British air defense. In this role, he played a key role in the development and testing of tactics with the newly introduced air defense radar AIR ( Airborne Interception Radar ). On the night of July 22nd to 23rd, 1940, he served as the air traffic controller of a Bristol Blenheim fighter plane with Flying Officer G. Ashfield as pilot and Pilot Officer GE Morris as radio officer. They succeeded in shooting down an enemy aircraft of the German Air Force using this new radar system.

On April 19, 1941 Chamberlain moved to the headquarters of the Coastal Command ( RAF Coastal Command ) and was initially an officer in the telecommunications staff . On September 24, 1941 he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). Then he was from May 1, 1942 chief telecommunications officer of the coastal command. He had previously been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ( Wing Commander ) on April 14, 1942 , this promotion being dated back to March 1, 1940. Because of his military services he was mentioned in the war report on June 2, 1943 ( Mentioned in dispatches ). In 1943 he took over the post of commander of the radio engineering school 1 ( No. 1 Radio School RAF ) and was then since December 11, 1944 chief signal officer of the air transport command ( RAF Transport Command ).

Post-war staff officer and promotion to Air Vice Marshal

After the end of the war Chamberlain was promoted to Colonel ( Group Captain ) on October 1, 1946 and in 1946 also Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). After a secondment from 1947 to 1949 to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, he attended a course at the Imperial Defense College (IDC) in London from January 1949 . Subsequently, on May 2, 1950, he became AOC ( Air Officer Commanding ) commanding No. 205 Group and as such promoted to Air Commodore on July 1, 1950 . In 1951 he took over the post as commodore of the transport squadron of the air forces in the Middle East MEAF ( Middle East Air Force ) and then on February 16, 1953 as head of the operational intelligence department in the air force staff. Two months later, on April 25, 1953, he was appointed Commandant of the RAF Staff College, Andover , where he succeeded Air Commodore Walter Cheshire . In this role he was active until May 1, 1954 and was then replaced by Air Commodore David William Lane .

Chamberlain himself switched to the RAF Fighter Command on July 28, 1954 as Head of Staff Department for Administration AOA ( Air Officer in charge of Administration ) , where he was promoted to Major General ( Air Vice Marshal ) on July 1, 1955 . In 1957 he was posted to the Ministry of Supply as Controller of Electronics and in 1959 as an employee of the Ministry of Aviation . On September 25, 1960, he retired from active military service.

After his retirement, Chamberlain moved into business and from 1961 to 1966 was executive director of Collins Radio Co. , a company that manufactures communications, control and navigation systems for the aerospace industry. He was then a member of the Collins Radio Co. supervisory board from 1967 to 1975 .

Web links

Biography on Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organization

Individual evidence

↑ London Gazette . No. 33261, HMSO, London, March 29, 1927, p. 2053 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).
↑ London Gazette . No. 33658, HMSO, London, March 4, 1930, p. 6959 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).
↑ London Gazette . No. 34366, HMSO, London, February 2, 1937, p. 717 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).
^ London Gazette (Supplement). No. 35284, HMSO, London, September 24, 1941, p. 5568 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).
↑ London Gazette . No. 34810, HMSO, London, March 12, 1940, p. 1473 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).

personal data
SURNAME	Chamberlain, George Philip
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British Air Force officer in the United Kingdom
DATE OF BIRTH	August 18, 1905
DATE OF DEATH	November 2, 1995

[1] London Gazette . No. 33261, HMSO, London, March 29, 1927, p. 2053 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).

[2] London Gazette . No. 33658, HMSO, London, March 4, 1930, p. 6959 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).

[3] London Gazette . No. 34366, HMSO, London, February 2, 1937, p. 717 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).

[4] London Gazette (Supplement). No. 35284, HMSO, London, September 24, 1941, p. 5568 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).

[5] London Gazette . No. 34810, HMSO, London, March 12, 1940, p. 1473 ( PDF , accessed February 24, 2016, English).