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 commanders[]
British Empire[]
Australian Flying Corps[]
See also: Australian Flying Corps
- 1914–1919 – Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Reynolds, General Staff Officer for Aviation, Australian Imperial Force
Royal Flying Corps[]
See also: List of Royal Flying Corps generals
Director-General of Military Aeronautics[]
- 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 France[]
- 1914-1915 - Major-General Sir David Henderson
- 1915-1918 - Major-General Hugh Trenchard
- 1918 - Major-General John Salmond
[]
Heads of the RNAS[]
- 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 Force[]
Chief of the Air Staff[]
- 1918 - Major-General Sir Hugh Trenchard
- 1918 - Major-General Frederick Sykes
France[]
- 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]
Greece[]
- Hellenic Naval Air Service: Lt Commander Aristeidis Moraitinis (1917-1918)
Imperial Russia[]
Italy[]
- unknown
United States[]
- 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 commanders[]
Germany[]
- 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 Troops[]
- 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 Empire[]
- 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 Empire[]
- unknown
Bulgaria[]
- unknown
References[]
- ↑ http://www.airpowerstudies.co.uk/APR%20Vol%2012%20No%201.pdf
- ↑ Harvey. Collision of Empires: Britain in Three World Wars, 1793-1945. p. 419
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