Claude Pelly

Air Chief Marshal Sir Claude Bernard Raymond Pelly GBE, KCB, MC, ADC, RAF (19 August 1902–12 August 1972) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the middle of the 20th century.

RAF career
Claude Pelly started his Air Force career at the RAF College Cranwell in 1920. In 1931 he was deployed to Iraq where he became Air Liaison Officer earning the Military Cross "for distinguished service rendered in the field in connection with military operations in Northern Kurdistan, Iraq during the period December 1931 to June 1932." He served in World War II initially as Head of Intelligence at Headquarters Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force and then as Senior Air Staff Officer for the Desert Air Force.

After the War he became Commandant of the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment and then Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Technical/Operational Requirements) before joining the Directing Staff at the Imperial Defence College in 1951. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief RAF Middle East Air Force in 1953 and Controller of Aircraft at the Ministry of Supply in 1956. Pelly was appointed Aide-de-camp to the Queen in 1957 and retired as an Air Chief Marshal in 1959.

In retirement he was a Board Member of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority from 1960 to 1964.

Family
In 1930 he married Margaret Ogilvie Spencer; they had three sons and one daughter.

Awards and decorations

 * Military Cross - 6 October 1933
 * Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) - 1 January 1943
 * Commander of the Royal Order of George I - 3 May 1946
 * Commander of the Order of the Bath (CB) - 2 January 1950
 * Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) - 1 January 1954
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) - 13 June 1959
 * Mentioned in Despatches - 1 January 1941, 11 June 1942, 14 January 1944
 * Air ADC to The Queen - 20 Jan 1957