Hugh Saunders (RAF officer)

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Sir Hugh Saunders
Mentioned in Despatches
Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland)
Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)[2]
Officer of the Legion of Honour (France)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark)[3]

KBE, MC, DFC & Bar, MM (24 August 1894 – 8 May 1987) was a South African aviator who rose through the ranks to become a senior Royal Air Force
commander.

RAF career

Air Marshal Sir Hugh Saunders (far right), Air Vice Marshal Adrian Cole (far left) as RAAF Liaison Officer to SEAC, with Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park (centre), near Penang, c. August 1945

Saunders enlisted with the

Officer Commanding No. 45 Squadron in 1932.[4]

Saunders served in the

Air Officer Commanding No. 11 Group in November 1942.[4] He was made Director-General of Personnel at the Air Ministry in November 1944.[4]

At the end of the war, he was made Air Officer Commanding RAF Burma before becoming Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Bomber Command in January 1947.[4] He went on to be Air Member for Personnel in October 1947, Inspector-General of the RAF in October 1949 and Commander-in-Chief at Headquarters Air Forces Western Europe in February 1951.[4] He was appointed Air Deputy to Supreme Allied Commander Europe and retired in September 1953.[4]

Post retirement

Following a series of fatal accidents in the newly established Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF), Saunders was invited to serve as a special advisor to the Minister of Defence of Denmark in 1954, in order to reorganise and, it was envisioned, bring the number of accidents in RDAF down. Saunders indeed reorganised the RDAF and, realising that most of the equipment/planes were of a tactical nature, established Tactical Air Command Denmark as the supreme HQ of RDAF. In addition, a number of specialist commands were established, training improved and gradually the accident rate fell. He served in Denmark until 1956 and received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog for his service.[7]

References

  1. ^ Lanchbery, Edward (1955). Against the Sun: The Story of Wing Commander Roland Beamont. Cassell. p. 86.
  2. ^ "No. 38264". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 April 1948. p. 2467.
  3. ^ "No. 40930". The London Gazette. 20 November 1956. p. 6577.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Saunders
  5. ^ Hugh Saunders The Aerodrome
  6. ^ "No. 33499". The London Gazette. 28 May 1929. p. 3520.
  7. OCLC 466830491.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
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Military offices
Preceded by Chief of the Air Staff (RNZAF)
1939–1941 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Air Officer Commanding No. 11 Group

1942–1944 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief Bomber Command
January – October 1947 		Succeeded by
Sir Aubrey Ellwood
Preceded by Air Member for Personnel
1947–1949 		Succeeded by
Sir Leslie Hollinghurst
Preceded by Inspector-General of the RAF
1949–1951 		Succeeded by
New title
Command formed
 Air Deputy to SACEUR
1951–1953 		Succeeded by
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