Edmund Hudleston

Air Chief Marshal Sir Edmund Cuthbert Hudleston GCB, CBE, ADC, RAF (30 December 1908 – 14 December 1994) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force.

RAF career
Born in Kalgoorlie and educated at Guilford School in Western Australia, Hudleston joined the Royal Air Force in 1927. He served as an armament officer in India before attending the RAF Staff College, Andover in 1938. During World War II he served in various senior staff officer positions at RAF Middle East Command and Desert Air Force before being appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 84 Group in 1944.

After the war, Hudleston attended the Imperial Defence College before becoming Head of the UK Military Delegation to the Western European Union Military Staff's Committee in 1948 and Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans & Policy at Headquarters SHAPE in 1951. He was made Air Officer Commanding No. 3 Group in 1953 and then became an instructor at the Imperial Defence College in 1956 before being appointed Chief of Staff (Air) for Operation Musketeer, the operation to recover the Suez Canal. He went on to be Vice-Chief of the Air Staff in 1957, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Transport Command in 1962 and Commander of Allied Air Forces Central Europe in 1963. He is last appointment was as Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Central Europe in 1964 before retiring in 1967.

In retirement he became a Director at the Optical Division of Pilkington Brothers.

Family
In 1936 he married Nancye Davis; they had one son and one daughter. Following the death of his first wife he married Brenda Withrington.

Honours and awards

 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath - 1 January 1963 (KCB - 1 January 1958, CB - 1 January 1945)
 * Commander of the Order of the British Empire - 2 June 1943
 * Air Aide-de-Camp to The Queen
 * Mentioned in Despatches - 8 May 1936, 1 January 1943, 8 June 1944, 1 January 1946, 13 June 1957
 * Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) - 15 October 1946 (Officer - 26 September 1944)
 * Commander of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) - 11 July 1947
 * Croix de Guerre with Palms (Belgium) - 11 July 1947
 * Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) - 18 November 1947
 * Croix de Guerre with Palms (France) - 15 April 1958
 * Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) - 15 April 1958