Air Marshal Sir Douglas Macfadyen, (8 August 1902 – 26 July 1968) was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

officer who became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Home Command from 1956 until his retirement in 1959.

RAF career

After education at the

Royal Grammar School, Newcastle The Royal Grammar School (RGS), Newcastle upon Tyne, is a coeducational private day school for pupils aged between 7 and 18 years. Founded in 1525 by Thomas Horsley, the Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne, it received royal foundation by Queen Eliz ...

, Macfadyen joined the Royal Air Force as a cadet in 1920.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Marshal Sir Douglas Macfadyen
After a tour as Adjutant of the London

University Air Squadron University Air Squadrons (UAS), are Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve units under the command of No. 6 Flying Training School RAF. That offers training and flight training to university students, with the goal of attracting students into a ca ...

, he became

Officer Commanding The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually giv ...

No. 105 Squadron in May 1939 and served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in that role before joining the Planning Staff at Headquarters British Air Forces in France. He continued his war service at the Directorate of War Organisation, at Headquarters Eastern Air Command and at Headquarters North-West African Air Forces before being made Director of Policy (Air Staff) 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 and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

in 1944. After the war he became Commandant of the Officer's Advanced Training School at

RAF Digby Royal Air Force Digby otherwise known as RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station located near Scopwick and south east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, in Lincolnshire, England. The station is home to the tri-s ...

and then at

RAF Hornchurch Royal Air Force Hornchurch, or more simply RAF Hornchurch, is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, sector station in the parish of Hornchurch, Essex (now the London Borough of Havering in Greater London), located to ...

. He was appointed Director of Plans at the Air Ministry in January 1949, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Policy) in August 1949 and Air Officer commanding British Forces Aden in 1952. He went on to be Commandant of 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. It ...

, in 1953 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Home Command in 1956 before retiring in 1959.

Family

His son, Sir Ian Macfadyen, also became an air marshal.

Cricket

In 1929 and 1931, Macfadyen played cricket for the Royal Air Force cricket team in inter-services matches against the British Army cricket team that were recognised as being of

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

status. He had little success as a lower-order batsman in either match, but took two wickets as an opening bowler in the 1931 game. In 1920, he had played a single match in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

for

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Macfadyen, Douglas 1902 births 1968 deaths Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force air marshals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English cricketers Northumberland cricketers Royal Air Force cricketers 20th-century English sportsmen