Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries which have historical British infl ...

Sidney Osborne Bufton, (12 January 1908 – 29 March 1993) was a senior commander in the

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 ...

during the middle part of the 20th century. He played a major part in establishing the

Pathfinder Pathfinder, Path Finder or Pathfinders may refer to: Aerospace * ''Mars Pathfinder'', a NASA Mars Lander * NASA Pathfinder, a high-altitude, solar-powered uncrewed aircraft * Space Shuttle ''Pathfinder'', a Space Shuttle test simulator Arts and ...

project, over the objections of

Arthur Harris Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet, (13 April 1892 – 5 April 1984), commonly known as "Bomber" Harris by the press and often within the RAF as "Butcher" or "Butch" Harris, was Air Officer Commanding, Air O ...

RAF career

Bufton joined the Royal Air Force in 1927.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Vice Marshal S O Bufton
/ref> As a young man he was a Welsh International

Hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

player (1931–1937) as well as playing for the RAF and the Combined Services. He served in

World War II 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 ...

as Officer Commanding No. 10 Squadron and then as Officer Commanding No. 76 Squadron before becoming Station Commander at RAF Pocklington in 1941. He continued his war service as Deputy Director and then as Director of Bomber Operations. He argued for the formation of a Target Finding Force to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of Bomber Command. In this he was opposed by the group and squadron commanders, and Bomber Command's commanding officer,

. He was supported by 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 ...

and

Charles Portal Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford, (21 May 1893 – 22 April 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force officer. He served as a bomber pilot in the First World War, and rose to become fi ...

. The force became the

Pathfinder Force The Pathfinders were target-marking squadrons in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. They located and marked targets with flares, at which a main bomber force could aim, increasing the accuracy of their bombing. The Pathfinders were norm ...

, which was critical in making the air campaign over Germany a success.''Forming the Pathfinders – The Career of Air Vice-Marshal Sidney Bufton'' by Hugh Melinsky, September 2010
He headed the preparations for the ill-fated Operation Thunderclap and for the air warfare against cities and civilians in German-occupied Europe. After the War he was appointed Commandant of the Central Bomber Establishment and then Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations and Plans) at Headquarters Air Forces Western Europe in 1948. He was made Director of Weapons at the

in 1951, Air Officer Administration at Headquarters

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

in 1952 and Air Officer Commanding at

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 aggress ...

in 1953. His last appointments were as Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters Bomber Command in 1955 and as Assistant Chief of Staff (Intelligence) at the Air Ministry in 1958 before retiring in 1961. After retiring from the RAF, he joined Radionic Ltd. as an inventor and later became Managing Director until 1970.

References

External links

The Papers of Air Vice-Marshal Sydney Osborne Bufton
held at

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers ...

, Cambridge , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bufton, Sidney Osborne 1908 births 1993 deaths Aerial warfare pioneers Royal Air Force air marshals Companions of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Welsh male field hockey players High sheriffs of Radnorshire Heads of RAF Intelligence Welsh military personnel