Sydney Bufton

Sydney Osborne Bufton (sometimes Sidney ) CB , DFC , milling (* 12. January 1908 , † 29. March 1993 ) was a British officer in the Royal Air Force , most recently Air Vice-Marshal , among other things, in the Second World War as a Director of Bombing Operations in the Air Ministry and later as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Intelligence) .

Life

Bufton joined the RAF in 1927 and completed his flight training in No. 4th Flying Training Squadron. As a pilot officer , he became the No. Assigned to 100 Squadron. He graduated from the Central Flying School in Upavon in 1930 and then became a qualified flying instructor in No. 5th Flying Training Squadron. The following year he completed a course as a flight mechanic. He also made a name for himself as a hockey player in the 1930s and made several appearances for the Welsh national team. In 1936 he joined the staff of the Directorate of Training and was promoted to Squadron Leader in 1937 . From January 1939 he attended the RAF Staff College Andover .

In the beginning of World War II, Bufton initially had a position on the staff of the Advanced Air Striking Force on the continent. After the defeat of France in 1940, he took over the leadership of No. 10 Squadron, equipped with twin-engine Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys . In March 1941 he took over the first season with four-engine Handley Page Halifaxes , the No. 76 Squadron. Later that year he became Commandant of the RAF Pocklington Base and, in November, Deputy Director of Bomber Operations with the rank of Wing Commander . In March 1942 he proposed - based on his own experience as a squadron commander - the establishment of a separate target marking unit, which the commander of Bomber Command Arthur Harris initially rejected. Intensive persuasion work in the Ministry and the commanders in the Bomber Command then led to the establishment of a Pathfinder Force in August 1942 , which proved to be an effective means of improving target accuracy. Bufton remained in this post for a year and a half before he succeeded John Baker as Director of Bombing Operations with the rank of Air Commodore in March 1943 . His relationship with Harris remained strained, although he advised the chief of the air staff, Charles Portal , when he was asked for his opinion by him in January 1944, that Harris should be kept at his post. Bufton played an important role in developing the plans for and coordinating the Combined Bomber Offensive with the American allies. From October 1944 he headed the Combined Strategic Targets Committee . He advocated American attacks on key targets in the German war economy and transportation, while Harris , who relied on area bombing, opposed them. In the last months of the war, Bufton even went over to questioning Harris' area attack concept as a whole, claiming that the devastating attacks on Hamburg in the summer of 1943 were more of a defeat than a victory from the point of view of the economic weakening and demoralization of the Germans.

After the end of the war, Bufton was first transferred to Egypt as the commander of a group and from 1946 attended the Imperial Defense College . The following year he was in command of the Central Bomber Establishment and in 1948 Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations / Plans), HQ Air Forces Western Europe . In 1951 he was Director of Weapons and in 1952 chief administrative officer at the headquarters of Bomber Command. In October 1953 he became Commander ( Air Officer Commanding ) of the British Armed Forces in Aden . After two years in this post, he returned to Bomber Command Headquarters as a Senior Air Staff Officer . Buffon's last post was that of Assistant Chief of Staff (Intelligence) in the Air Staff from August 1958, before he retired in 1961 with the rank of Air Vice-Marshal.

In retirement, Bufton became an employee of Radionic Ltd. , of which he belonged until 1970 and in which he rose to Managing Director . From 1967 he was also High Sheriff of Radnorshire .

literature

• Hugh Melinsky: Forming the Pathfinders: The Career of Air Vice-Marshal Sydney Bufton. The History Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7524-5453-5 .
• Richard Overy : The bombing war: Europe 1939 to 1945. Rowohlt, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-87134-782-5 .

Web links

• Air Vice-Marshal Sidney Osborne Bufton on rafweb.org

Individual evidence

1. ^ Richard Overy: The Bomb War: Europe 1939 to 1945. S.?