Air Marshal Sir Ernest Leslie Gossage, (3 February 1891 – 8 July 1949) was an officer of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and then of 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) and ...

. He served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at

RAF Balloon Command Balloon Command was the Royal Air Force command which was responsible for controlling all the United Kingdom-based barrage balloon units during the Second World War. History Prior to the establishment of Balloon Command, a balloon group was b ...

from 1940 to 1944.

Early life

Gossage was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. Whilst at Trinity, he joined the Cambridge University Contingent of the Officers Training Corps (OTC), serving in the Artillery section.

British Army

Pre-War

In 1910, Gossage was commissioned into the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

while still a first-year student, a considerable accolade. He was commissioned as an officer of the Special Reserve (SR) to ensure he would not be mobilised into service until he had completed his studies and his commission was confirmed in 1911. On graduating in 1912, he was transferred from the Reserve into regular service and began his professional career.

First World War

When the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out in 1914 Gossage was still a young second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery, where he remained for the first year of the war.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Marshal Sir Leslie Gossage
retrieved 2007-01-26 However, on 12 May 1915, he was seconded to the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

where he was assigned to No. 6 Squadron as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. By 5 September 1915 he had reached the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and had become a Flight Commander in No. 6 Squadron. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

in March the following year for his "consistent good and zealous work under bad weather conditions, both on patrol and when co-operating with the artillery in operations resulting in the capture of the enemy's position". Following a promotion to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in 1916, Gossage was given command of No. 56 Squadron, later taking command of No. 8 Squadron in the same year. In 1917 Gossage was promoted to lieutenant colonel and took command of the Royal Flying Corps' 1st Wing. On 1 April 1918, the

was founded and Gossage was transferred to the new Service. He was appointed as a

Staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

in the Directorate of Operations and Intelligence. In 1919, he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

for his period in command. In addition, he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

for gallantry four times during the war.

Royal Air Force

Inter-War

At the end of the war, Gossage was given a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force. He became

Officer Commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, ...

of the

School of Army Co-operation The School of Land/Air Warfare was a Royal Air Force school based at Old Sarum in Wiltshire. Its purpose was to encourage greater co-operation between officers in the air and those on the ground. History The School was originally established at ...

before moving on to be Deputy Director of Staff Duties, in the rank of Group Captain, 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 1928. He was then appointed Air

Attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in 1930, Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at Headquarters

Air Defence of Great Britain The Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) was a RAF command comprising substantial army and RAF elements responsible for the air defence of the British Isles. It lasted from 1925, following recommendations that the RAF take control of homeland air ...

and, in 1934, Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters RAF Iraq Command. Gossage was promoted Air Commodore in 1932. In 1935 he was briefly appointed Air Officer Commanding (AOC)

British Forces Aden British Forces Aden was the name given to the British Armed Forces stationed in the Aden Protectorate during part of the 20th century. Their purpose was to preserve the security of the Protectorate from both internal threats and external aggressi ...

, before returning home to become Air Officer Commanding No. 11 Group in the new

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, oft ...

, in 1936. On 1 January 1936, Gossage had been promoted to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal (AVM) and in 1937, AVM Gossage received the CB.

Second World War

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 opposin ...

, Gossage served briefly as the

Inspector-General of the RAF The Inspector-General of the RAF was a senior appointment in the Royal Air Force, responsible for the inspection of airfields. The post existed from 1918 to 1920 and from 1935 until the late 1960s. For much of World War II, a second inspector-ge ...

, then the

Air Member for Personnel The Air Member for Personnel (AMP) is the senior Royal Air Force officer who is responsible for personnel matters and is a member of the Air Force Board. The AMP is in charge of all aspects of recruiting, non-operational flying and ground tr ...

, before becoming the longest-serving Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOCINC) at

, from December 1940 to February 1944. He received a mention in despatches in 1940. In the New Year Honours of January 1941, Air Marshal Gossage was advanced in the Order of the Bath, to receive his knighthood, as Sir Leslie Gossage, KCB. His temporary wartime promotion to Air Marshal was confirmed and substantiated in 1943.

Post-War

Following his retirement from regular service with the Royal Air Force, Gossage agreed to be re-employed to assume the role of

Commandant Air Cadets Commandant Air Cadets is the title given to the Royal Air Force officer who is responsible for running the Royal Air Force Air Cadets, embracing the Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth orga ...

, following the retirement of Air Commodore

John Adrian Chamier Air Commodore Sir John Adrian Chamier, (26 December 1883 – 3 May 1974) was a British officer of the Royal Air Force. Chamier is known as "The Founding Father of the ATC" for his role in the foundation of the Air Training Corps. Milita ...

; he also agreed to serve temporarily as an Air Vice-Marshal for the duration. He served in this role until he stepped down in 1946.

Family

Air Marshal Sir Leslie Gossage retired to

Buxted Buxted is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex in England. The parish is situated on the Weald, north of Uckfield; the settlements of Five Ash Down, Heron's Ghyll and High Hurstwood are included within its boundarie ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, but died only a few years later, in 1949. He was 58. Ernest Leslie Gossage was married with two sons. Capt. Gossage married Eileen O'Brien in 1917. Eileen was from a very military and very distinguished family: the daughter of Brigadier-General

Edmund O'Brien Eamon Joseph O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. O'Brien w ...

, late 14th Hussars Their elder son, Terence Leslie Gossage was born in 1918. Terence joined the King's Own Yorkshire light Infantry (KOYLI) and retired as a Major, with an MBE. He died in 1999, survived by his own three children, one of whom followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, in military aviation. The younger son, Peter Leslie Gossage, was born in 1919. Peter joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) and became a pilot, like his father. He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer and flew Hurricanes with 85 Sqn. Initially based in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

as part of the Air Component of the BEF, the squadron was withdrawn during the Battle of France and then operated from Debden. Pilot Officer Peter Gossage was killed on 31 May 1940 and is buried near his family, in Buxted.

Notes

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gossage, Leslie 1891 births 1949 deaths Royal Field Artillery officers Royal Flying Corps officers British Army personnel of World War I Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Royal Air Force air marshals Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Military Cross Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath British air attachés Military personnel from Liverpool People from Buxted