Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard

Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard in the uniform of the Royal Flying Corps

Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard , GCB , OM , GCVO , DSO (born February 3, 1873 in Taunton , Somerset , †  February 10, 1956 in London ) was a British officer who co-founded the Royal Air Force and was one of the first World War as the first Chief of the Air Staff . In these functions he rose to Marshal of the Royal Air Force and earned the reputation of Father of the RAF (Eng: "Father of the Royal Air Force").

Trenchard is an advocate of strategic bombing , the target of which should not be troops, but the infrastructure of the enemy. Because of his loud voice, he was nicknamed Boom (roar, thunder).

Life

Hugh Trenchard joined the British Army at the age of twenty and served with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in South Africa , where he was wounded, and in Nigeria . In 1906 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order .

In 1913 he learned to fly with the British aviation pioneer Thomas Sopwith and switched to the Royal Flying Corps , the predecessor of the Royal Air Force. At the age of 39, he had almost reached the age limit of 40 for aviators. After completing his training, Trenchard became deputy commander of the Central Flying School .

First World War

Shortly after the beginning of the First World War, Trenchard was transferred to the Western Front to take over command of the 1st Group, which consisted of two air squadrons , which were supposed to support the IV and Indian Corps . In August 1915, Trenchard was then appointed as the successor to David Henderson to command all units of the Royal Flying Corps on the Western Front.

Two years later he returned to Great Britain to reorganize flight training there. When the Air Council was set up in January 1918, Trenchard was transferred to the post of Chief of the Air Staff, making him Commander in Chief of the British Air Force. With his help, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service merged to form the Royal Air Force. However, after a dispute with the Air Force Minister, Harold Harmsworth , he resigned from his position two weeks before the Royal Air Force was to be officially formed in April 1918.

Trenchard resumed his active career and, as commander of the Independent Force, organized heavy bombardments of enemy railways, airfields and industrial centers in the final phase of the First World War.

Later years

In 1919 he was given the hereditary title of Baronet , of Wolfeton in the County of Dorset . In the same year Winston Churchill brought him back as Chief of the Air Force. Trenchard stayed in this office until his retirement at the end of 1929. During this time, he was particularly committed to ensuring that the Royal Air Force was retained as an independent military force .

During this time, British bombers were used to fight rebels in the colonies . The use of poison gas against insurgents in Iraq also fell during Trenchard's tenure. In 1927 he became the first Marshal of the Royal Air Force .

After retiring from active service, he was raised as Baron Trenchard , of Wolfeton in the County of Dorset, to a hereditary peer and thereby admitted to the British House of Lords , from 1931 to 1935 he was Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service . There he also initiated important reforms, particularly in the area of ​​training. In 1936 he was promoted to Viscount Trenchard .

During the Second World War , Trenchard did not return to active service. However, due to his frequent visits to airfields and other air force units, he was unofficially considered Inspector General of the Royal Air Force.

Hugh Trenchard died on February 10, 1956. He was buried in the Royal Air Force Chapel at Westminster Abbey .

literature

• Hubert Raymond Allen: The Legacy Of Lord Trenchard . Cassell, London 1972, ISBN 0-304-93702-9 .
• Andrew Boyle: Trenchard Man of Vision . Collins, London 1962.
• Cyril Havard: The Trenchard touch . Countrywise Press, Chichester 2000, ISBN 1-902681-13-4 .
• David Jordan: The Battle for the Skies. Sir Hugh Trenchard as Commander of the Royal Flying Corps. In: Matthew Hughes, Matthew Seligmann: Leadership in Conflict 1914–1918 . Leo Cooper, Barnsley 2000, ISBN 0-85052-751-1 , pp. 68-91.
• Gavin Lyall: Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Viscount Trenchard. In: Field Marshal Lord Carver (ed.): The War Lords. Military Commanders of the Twentieth Century. (= Pen & sword military classics. 61). Leo Cooper, Barnsley 2005, ISBN 1-84415-308-8 , pp. 176-187.
• Norman Macmillan: Great Airmen . G. Bell & Sons, London 1955, pp. 147-156: Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Viscount Trenchard of Wolfeton .
• Henry Probert: High commanders of the Royal Air Force . HMSO, London 1991, ISBN 0-11-772635-4 , pp. 1-4 and 100-101: Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Viscount Trenchard .
• Ian Brunskill, Guy Liardet, Michael Tillotson (Eds.): Great military lives. A century in obituaries . Times Books, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-00-727670-7 , pp. 197-203: Trenchard .
• Peter Wykeham: Trenchard, Hugh Montague. In: Hew Strachan (Ed.): Military Lives . Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 2002, ISBN 0-19-860532-3 , pp. 468–474, (selection from: Dictionary of national biography ).
• Trenchard, Sir Hugh Montague . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 32 : Pacific Ocean Islands - Zuloaga . London 1922, p. 772 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

Commons : Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Air Marshal Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard on thepeerage.com

References and comments

1. ↑ Jarrod Cotter: Trenchard: Father of the RAF. April 2, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
2. ↑ David S. Fadok: John Boyd and John Warden: Airpower's Quest for Strategic Paralysis. In: Philip S. Meilinger (Ed.): The Paths of Heaven: The Evolution of Airpower Theory. 4th edition. Air Force University Press: Maxwell, Alabama, 2001, p. 362.

predecessor	Office	successor
- Frederick Sykes	Chief of the Air Staff 1918 1919-1930	Frederick Sykes John Salmond
New title created	Baronet, of Wolfeton 1919-1956	Thomas Trenchard
New title created	Baron Trenchard 1927-1956	Thomas Trenchard
New title created	Viscount Trenchard 1936-1956	Thomas Trenchard