Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt

Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Rainey Ludlow-Hewitt GCB, GBE, CMG, DSO, MC, DL (9 June 1886 – 15 August 1973) was a senior Royal Air Force commander.

World War I
Ludlow-Hewitt was originally commissioned into the Royal Irish Rifles, but transferred to the Royal Flying Corps before the First World War, where he qualified for the Royal Aero Club's Aviator's Certificate no. 886 on 11 September 1914. During the war he served first as a pilot in No. 1 Squadron Royal Flying Corps and then later as the Officer Commanding No. 15 Squadron and No. 3 Squadron on the Western Front. In 1916 Ludlow-Hewitt took up command of the 3rd (Corps) Wing as a temporary lieutenant colonel. Late in the following year he was promoted to brigadier-general and made the Inspector of Training at the headquarters of the Royal Flying Corps' Training Division. Like other members of the Flying Corps, he transferred to the Royal Air Force on its creation on 1 April 1918. It was also on that date that he became General Officer Commanding (GOC) the Training Division. Less than two months later he was appointed GOC the 10th Brigade.

Later career
He was appointed Air Secretary in 1922 and Commandant of the RAF Staff College in 1926. He went on to be Air Officer Commanding Iraq Command in 1930, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and Director of Operations and Intelligence in 1933 and Air Officer Commanding the RAF India in 1935. In 1937 Ludlow-Hewitt was promoted to air chief marshal and appointed Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command. However, with World War II underway, Ludlow-Hewitt was replaced by Portal in April 1940 because of Ludlow-Hewitt's insistence on the formation of Operational Training Units at the expense of the availability of front line airmen. He spent the remainder of the war as Inspector-General of the RAF and did not retire until November 1945, making him the RAF officer with the longest time in the rank of air chief marshal throughout the history of the RAF.

Honours and awards

 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath – 1 January 1946 (KCB – 2 January 1933, CB – 4 June 1928)
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire – 1 January 1943
 * Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George – 3 June 1919
 * Distinguished Service Order – 1 January 1918
 * Military Cross – 14 January 1916
 * Mention in Despatches – 22 June 1915, 1 January 1916, 4 January 1917, 11 December 1917, 31 December 1918, 11 July 1919
 * Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (France) – 14 July 1917
 * Deputy Lieutenant (Wiltshire) – 30 September 1952
 * Air ADC to The King – 1 Jul 1921
 * Principal Air ADC to The King