Air Chief Marshal Sir Alfred Earle, (11 December 1907 – 27 March 1990) was a senior officer in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

who later served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff (1964–66), and Director General of British

Defence Intelligence Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies (MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is an ...

(1966–1968).

Military career

After studying at

Shebbear College Shebbear College is an independent day and boarding school for girls and boys aged 4 – 18 situated in Shebbear, Devon, England. The school's 85-acre rural campus is situated in the Devon countryside. It was founded by the Bible Christian Soci ...

, Earle was commissioned into the

in 1925.Sir Alfred Earle
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives He served in bomber squadrons in the United Kingdom and in Iraq and then became an instructor at the RAF School of Photography from 1930. He served in the

and commanded the new School of Photography in Blackpool before joining the Directorate of Photography at the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

in 1940. He transferred to the Directorate of Plans in 1941 and then formed and commanded

No. 428 Squadron RCAF No. 428 Squadron RCAF,

commander of

RAF Ridgewell Royal Air Force Ridgewell or more simply RAF Ridgewell is a former Royal Air Force station located at Ridgewell, north west of Halstead, Essex, England. During the Second World War, the airfield was used by the Royal Air Force and the United ...

and RAF West Wickham in 1943 before joining the staff of General Sir Hastings Ismay for the Cairo Conference and then the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

. In 1945 he was made Air Officer Commanding No. 300 (Transport) Group in Australia. After the war he became Air Officer Commanding No. 232 Group in South East Asia before joining the Directing Staff at the

RAF Staff College, Bracknell The RAF Staff College at Bracknell was a Royal Air Force staff college active for most of the second half of the 20th century. Its role was the training of staff officers in the administrative, staff and policy aspects of air force matters. ...

in 1946. He was made Senior Personnel Staff Officer at Headquarters

Technical Training Command The United States Army Air Forces during World War II had major subordinate Commands below the Air Staff level. These Commands were organized along functional missions. One such Command was the Flying Training Command (FTC). It began as Air Corp ...

in 1949 and then

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Staff College in 1951. He became Director of Policy (Air Staff) in 1954 and Air Chief of Staff (Policy) in 1955. He was Air Officer Commanding No. 13 Group from 1957 and

Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff The Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff is a senior British military officer who reports to the Chief of the Defence Staff and Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff. Early Deputy Chiefs of the Defence Staff These were: *1957 – 1960 – Lieutenant-Gene ...

from 1960. He was made Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at

in 1962 and Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff in 1964. In 1966 Sir Alfred became the second chief of

, then known as Director-General Intelligence, succeeding Sir

Kenneth Strong Major-General Sir Kenneth William Dobson Strong (9 September 1900 – 11 January 1982) was a senior officer of the British Army who served in the Second World War, rising to become Director General of Intelligence. A graduate of the Roy ...

Retirement

Earle retired from the RAF in 1966, before taking up the position of Director-General of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence. From 1974 to 1976 he was the chairman of

Waveney Waveney may refer to: * River Waveney, a river that forms the boundary between Suffolk and Norfolk, England * Waveney District, a local government district in Suffolk, England * Waveney (UK Parliament constituency) * Waveney class lifeboat, a class ...

District Council.

References

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Earle, Alfred Royal Air Force air marshals Graduates of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell 1907 births 1990 deaths Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath People educated at Shebbear College