Royal Navy had Nelson, British Army had Wellington and the Royal Air Force had…?

Dowding……. with Park coming in a short head behind.

Dowding……. with Park coming in a short head behind.

Dowding, absolutely the equal of Nelson and Wellington.
With of course a highly respectful nod to Keith Park.

Plus I don’t think either Nelson or Wellington had the additional burden of commanding their only son during the battle they were fighting.

Regards Mike

Dowding, absolutely the equal of Nelson and Wellington.
With of course a highly respectful nod to Keith Park.

Plus I don’t think either Nelson or Wellington had the additional burden of commanding their only son during the battle they were fighting.

Regards Mike

I think I agree – if you could fast-forward a hundred years there would be but a few battles “that saved England/Britain” that the general public could quote: Agincourt, Trafalgar, Waterloo and Battle of Britain and for the latter I reckon Bader will be remembered easiest.

Roger Smith.

The only problem I have with that is if we had relied on Bader and his “Big Wing” tactics during the Battle of Britain, we might well have lost!! :diablo:

Regards;
Steve

I think I agree – if you could fast-forward a hundred years there would be but a few battles “that saved England/Britain” that the general public could quote: Agincourt, Trafalgar, Waterloo and Battle of Britain and for the latter I reckon Bader will be remembered easiest.

Roger Smith.

The only problem I have with that is if we had relied on Bader and his “Big Wing” tactics during the Battle of Britain, we might well have lost!! :diablo:

Regards;
Steve

Trenchard !!! Definately.

Have to agree with Pagen. Lord Trenchard, set-up all sorts of New idea’s for the growth of the RAF, way back in 1920’s,when all about him was confusion and chaos, no money and Airman almost starving.(remember UK was just about bankrupt after conclusion of WW-1 ) He looked to the future of RAF and took control and put plans in place that saw us ready for WW-2 (Well, about as ready as we could have been)

He set in motion the RAF Apprenticeship Scheme,for one thing. 🙂

Bill T.

Trenchard !!! Definately.

Have to agree with Pagen. Lord Trenchard, set-up all sorts of New idea’s for the growth of the RAF, way back in 1920’s,when all about him was confusion and chaos, no money and Airman almost starving.(remember UK was just about bankrupt after conclusion of WW-1 ) He looked to the future of RAF and took control and put plans in place that saw us ready for WW-2 (Well, about as ready as we could have been)

He set in motion the RAF Apprenticeship Scheme,for one thing. 🙂

Bill T.

If you asked the general public, I would think Bader – and Gibson as a distant second – would be the only names that many could come up with.

I think I agree – if you could fast-forward a hundred years there would be but a few battles “that saved England/Britain” that the general public could quote: Agincourt, Trafalgar, Waterloo and Battle of Britain and for the latter I reckon Bader will be remembered easiest.

Roger Smith.

If you asked the general public, I would think Bader – and Gibson as a distant second – would be the only names that many could come up with.

I think I agree – if you could fast-forward a hundred years there would be but a few battles “that saved England/Britain” that the general public could quote: Agincourt, Trafalgar, Waterloo and Battle of Britain and for the latter I reckon Bader will be remembered easiest.

Roger Smith.

I will have to go with Dowding and Park.

I will have to go with Dowding and Park.

Nelson took the assets delivered by m’Lords, planned and deployed them under a system of Command and Control that worked. Ditto likewise Wellington. Both had that fickle attribute, luck-on-the-day – a damn near-run thing. Both were personally in their contests, one fatally so. Names unknown to me will have been the Father of the Fleet placed under Nelson’s command, and of the Force and tactics (e.g squares) at Wellington’s command (e.g Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton).

Trenchard has the figure in history of being Father of the RAF (he wasn’t. Smuts was) and of the doctrine of separate targeting (the “Independent” Air Force, since misconstrued as a third uniform colour). Major Trenchard was not, and initially opposed bombing deep behind the lines. But..Trenchard kept RAF in-being in Peace, found roles such as tribal policing, brought on a Band of Brothers, and inspired in a new team a sense of esprit de corps that had taken the senior 2 Services quite a while to develop. So…Trenchard may be equivalent to those who put Wellington and Nelson in the position to do good. Freeman and Portal, WW2 and maybe Slessor for the Cold War rank alongside. For the BoB it’s Dowding+Freeman+Park, despite insubordinate Leigh-Mallory+Bader.

I plump for Tedder as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, placing Air exactly where it could best aid the Supreme Allied Commander; he then, with ex-CAS Portal in his MoS Controller, Atomic Energy role, created the RAF that fought and helped win the Cold War.

Though Joe Public knows few of these, they were of course personally (almost) as closely engaged with the enemy as the combat heroes.

Nelson took the assets delivered by m’Lords, planned and deployed them under a system of Command and Control that worked. Ditto likewise Wellington. Both had that fickle attribute, luck-on-the-day – a damn near-run thing. Both were personally in their contests, one fatally so. Names unknown to me will have been the Father of the Fleet placed under Nelson’s command, and of the Force and tactics (e.g squares) at Wellington’s command (e.g Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton).

Trenchard has the figure in history of being Father of the RAF (he wasn’t. Smuts was) and of the doctrine of separate targeting (the “Independent” Air Force, since misconstrued as a third uniform colour). Major Trenchard was not, and initially opposed bombing deep behind the lines. But..Trenchard kept RAF in-being in Peace, found roles such as tribal policing, brought on a Band of Brothers, and inspired in a new team a sense of esprit de corps that had taken the senior 2 Services quite a while to develop. So…Trenchard may be equivalent to those who put Wellington and Nelson in the position to do good. Freeman and Portal, WW2 and maybe Slessor for the Cold War rank alongside. For the BoB it’s Dowding+Freeman+Park, despite insubordinate Leigh-Mallory+Bader.

I plump for Tedder as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, placing Air exactly where it could best aid the Supreme Allied Commander; he then, with ex-CAS Portal in his MoS Controller, Atomic Energy role, created the RAF that fought and helped win the Cold War.

Though Joe Public knows few of these, they were of course personally (almost) as closely engaged with the enemy as the combat heroes.

I will second TonyT. After all, where would we be without him?

Seriously, it’s a difficult question to answer in many ways as one decision hangs on another. If you’re talking about combat I’d probably go for Cheshire too.

Regards,

kev35

I will second TonyT. After all, where would we be without him?

Seriously, it’s a difficult question to answer in many ways as one decision hangs on another. If you’re talking about combat I’d probably go for Cheshire too.

Regards,

kev35

Me 😀

Me 😀

Absolutely no doubt about this at all, founder of the Royal Air Force, Lord Trenchard.
The other names mentioned are all important and heroic of course, but operated within the structure of the service set up by people like Trenchard.

Absolutely no doubt about this at all, founder of the Royal Air Force, Lord Trenchard.
The other names mentioned are all important and heroic of course, but operated within the structure of the service set up by people like Trenchard.