Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard GCB OM GCVO DSO (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British Army soldier who did a lot to start the Royal Air Force. He has been called the Father of the Royal Air Force.
As a boy Trenchard found learning difficult. He failed many tests and only just got into the British Army as an officer. Trenchard first when to India with the Army and he then asked to go to South Africa because he wanted to fight in the Boer War. During the fighting, Trenchard was shot in the chest and became unable to walk properly because of damage to his back. He returned to England where a doctor told him to go to Switzerland because the air was better than in England. Trenchard became bored and started to bobsleigh. After crashing on a fast bend, Trenchard was able to walk properly - because his back was fixed. After his health got better still, Trenchard returned to the war in South Africa.
Trenchard then went to Nigeria where he made sure that British law was followed by fighing some of the people who were attacking the British and each other. He became the soldier who was in charge of the Southern Nigeria Regiment.
In 1912, Trenchard learned to fly and joined the Royal Flying Corps. He became the second most important man at the Central Flying School in England and had several important jobs in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. Trenchard was the man in charge of the Royal Flying Corps in France from 1915 to 1917. In 1918, he was the first man in charge of the Royal Air Force for a short time. He then went back to France to take over the Royal Air Force bombing attacks on Germany. Winston Churchill put him back in charge of the Royal Air Force in 1919. Over the next 10 years, Trenchard started Air Force training bases and made sure that it was used to enforce the law in parts of the British Empire. In the 1930s Trenchard was in charge of the London's police force (the Metropolitan Police) and as an older man he argued for keeping a big RAF. In modern times, some people say that Trenchard was one of the first people to argue for strategic bombing.
[change] Other websites
- Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - Marshal of the RAF The Viscount Trenchard of Wolfeton
- USAF Association Magazine - Trenchard at the Creation
- First World War.com - Who's Who: Hugh Trenchard
- History Learning Site - Hugh Trenchard
- British Ministry of Defence - Trenchard: Father of the RAF
