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Leigh-Mallory, Sir Trafford Leigh (1892–1944), air force officer and brother of George Mallory
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Dates of existence
11 July 1892 - 14 November 1944
History
Born at Mobberley, near Knutsford, Cheshire, on 11 July 1892, the youngest of the two sons and two daughters of Herbert Leigh Mallory (1856–1943) and his wife Annie Beridge. His father hyphenated his surname in 1914. Trafford followed his example, but his brother, George Herbert Leigh Mallory did not.
Educated at St Leonards, Sussex (1902–6), Haileybury College (1906–11), and Magdalene College, Cambridge (1911–14), where he took history and law.
August 1914 - commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers.
April 1915 - went to France with the 3rd Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment.
June 1915 - wounded and returned to England.
18 August 1915 - married Doris Jean Sawyer in All Saints' Church, Upper Norwood, his father officiated. They had one son and one daughter.
January 1916 - transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He qualified as a pilot in June, was promoted to Lieutenant, joined 7 squadron on the western front in July, and then transferred to 5 squadron in August. He was promoted to Captain and appointed a flight commander in November.
April 1917 - returned to England and was promoted to the rank of Major. When he returned to corps duties on the western front he commanded 8 squadron. His squadron was hard worked after March 1918 (when the stalemate of trench war ended) in close support of ground forces until the November armistice. His energy and efficiency earned respect but not admiration.
1 January 1919 - awarded a DSO
August 1919 - granted a permanent commission as a squadron leader
1921-1923 - School of Army Co-operation at Old Sarum, Wiltshire; 1927-1929 Commanding Officer
Jan 1925 - promoted to Wing Commander
1925-1926 - attended the RAF Staff College, Andover
1930-1931 - instructor at the Army Staff College, Camberley
January 1932 - promoted to Group Captain
1932-1933 - air adviser to the disarmament conference in Geneva
1934 - studied at the Imperial Defence College and commanded a flying training school at Digby, Lincolnshire, until December 1935
1935 - December 1937 - worked in Iraq as Senior Air Staff Officer at Command Headquarters
January 1936 - promoted to Air Commodore
December 1937 - appointed to command 12 group (responsible for defending the Midlands and East Anglia from a headquarters at Watnall, Nottinghamshire) in Fighter Command, even though he had no experience of fighter operations or the organisation of an air defence system.
November 1938 - promoted to Air Vice-Marshal
During the Second World War he was at odds with fellow officers over strategy and was accused of incompetence. He employed inexperienced pilots on offensive operations across the channel and many were lost for no tangible advantage.
November 1942 - became head of Fighter Command and was promoted to Air Marshal in December.
November 1943 - he was confirmed by the Combined Chiefs of Staff as Commander of the proposed allied expeditionary air force (AEAF) to support operation Overlord, the campaign to liberate occupied Europe.
January 1944 - promoted to Air Chief Marshal (he was appointed because he was there. Late in 1943, British and American airmen of greater ability, more varied experience, and hard-won mutual respect were still active in the Mediterranean.
August 1944 - Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander in South-east Asi,a asked that he go to India as Air Commander. He left Northolt for India in an Avro York on 14 November 1944. Shortly after midday it struck a mountain ridge in South-east France killing all ten people on board (including his wife). A court of inquiry found that the weather had been very poor on the day of the accident, but that Leigh-Mallory 'was determined to leave and he is known to be a man of forceful personality.' Sir Charles Portal, chief of the air staff, added that Leigh-Mallory had no need for such haste. Tragically, 'the desire to arrive in India on schedule with his “own” aircraft and crew overrode prudence and resulted in this disaster' (TNA: PRO, AIR 2/10593).
He was appointed CB in July 1940 and knighted in January 1943.
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Sources
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography