Air commanders of World War I

The air commanders of World War I were army or navy officers who came to command air services during the first major conflict in which air power played a significant role.

Entente Powers air commandersEdit

British EmpireEdit

Australian Flying CorpsEdit

• 1914–1919 – Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Reynolds, General Staff Officer for Aviation, Australian Imperial Force

Royal Flying CorpsEdit

Director-General of Military AeronauticsEdit

• 1914-1917 - Lieutenant-General Sir David Henderson
• 1917-1918 - Major-General John Salmond
• 1918 - Brigadier-General Edward Ellington

General Officer Commanding the Royal Flying Corps in FranceEdit

• 1914-1915 - Major-General Sir David Henderson
• 1915-1918 - Major-General Hugh Trenchard
• 1918 - Major-General John Salmond

Royal Naval Air ServiceEdit

Heads of the RNASEdit

• 1914-1915 - Captain Murray Sueter, Director of the Admiralty Air Department
• 1915-1917 - Rear Admiral Charles Vaughan-Lee, Director of the Admiralty Air Department
• 1917-1918 - Commodore Godfrey Paine, Fifth Sea Lord and Director of Naval Aviation

Royal Air ForceEdit

Chief of the Air StaffEdit

• 1918 - Major-General Sir Hugh Trenchard
• 1918 - Major-General Frederick Sykes

FranceEdit

• Brigadier General Auguste Edouard Hirschauer, Director of Military Aeronautics 1914-1915
• Colonel Édouard Barès, Head of the Service Aéronautique, to December 1916
• Commandant Paul du Peuty, Head of the Service Aéronautique, December 1916 to August 1917^[1]

GreeceEdit

• Hellenic Naval Air Service: Lt Commander Aristeidis Moraitinis (1917-1918)

Imperial RussiaEdit

• Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich^[2]

ItalyEdit

• unknown

United StatesEdit

• Brigadier-General William L. Kenly, Chief of Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force in France (1917)
• Brigadier-General Benjamin Foulois, Chief of Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force in France (1917 to 1918)
• Major-General Mason Patrick, Chief of Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force in France (1918)
• Brigadier-General Billy Mitchell, Air Commander, Zone of Advance on the American Expeditionary Force in France

Central Powers air commandersEdit

GermanyEdit

• Führer der Luftschiffe (Admiral 2nd Class) Peter Strasser, Commander of naval Airships (1915-1918)
• Major, later Lieutenant-Colonel and then Colonel, Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen, Chief of Field Air Services (1915-1916), Air Service Chief of Staff (1916-1919)
• Lieutenant-General Ernst von Hoeppner, Commanding General of the Air Service (1916-1919)

Inspector of Flying TroopsEdit

• Colonel Walter von Eberhardt, Inspector of Flying Troops (1913-1914)
• Major Richard Roethe, Inspector of Flying Troops (1914-1916)
• Major, later Lieutenant-Colonel Wilhelm Siegert, 2nd Staff Officer of Field Air Services (1915-1916), Inspector of Flying Troops (1916-1918)
• Captain Wilhelm Haehnelt, Air Commander 5th Army (1915-1916), Air Commander 1st Army (1916-1918), Inspector of Flying Troops (1918-1919)

Austro-Hungarian EmpireEdit

• Colonel, later Major General Emil Uzelac, Commander of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (1912-1918)
• Colonel General Archduke Josef Ferdinand, Inspector General of the Imperial Air Force (1917-1918)

Ottoman EmpireEdit

• unknown

BulgariaEdit

• unknown

ReferencesEdit