William Gell (RAF officer)

Air Vice Marshal William Charles Coleman Gell CB DSO & Bar MC DL (10 July 1888 – 16 May 1969) was a Royal Air Force officer who became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Balloon Command.

RAF career
Educated at the University of Cambridge, Gell was commissioned into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1911. He served in World War I and commanded the 5th/6th Battalion in France earning the MC. After the war he practiced as a solicitor with Johnson & Company in Birmingham. He joined the Anti Aircraft Service of the Territorial Army in 1935 and during World War II he served as Officer Commanding No. 5 and then No. 6 Balloon Centre preventing German air attacks. He was appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 30 Balloon Group in 1941 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Balloon Command in 1944 before retiring in 1945.