James Robb (RAF officer)

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Air Chief Marshal Sir James Milne Robb GCB GBE DSO DFC Legion of Honour-France Order of the White Lion-First Class - Czechoslovakia Lion of Merit and DSM -USA AFC RAF (26 January 1895 – 18 December 1968) was a senior Royal Air Force commander. He was Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command from 1945 to 1947. James Robb was born in Hexham in 1895 to James Thomas Robb JP. William Robb, originally from Scotland settled in Hexham and founded the Department store there in the mid C19th. James was educated at George Watsons School in Edinburgh. Sir James was a brilliant fighter pilot who shot down 7 enemy aircraft in the First World War. Robb was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his service during operations in Kurdistan in 1925. He became Deputy Chief of Combined Operations under Lord Louis Mountbatten in the Second World War. He also seved in the Headquarters staff in Mediteranean Allied Air Forces before Eisenhower had him appointed Deputy Chief of Staff (Air) at Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force, in which capacity he received the German Surrender. In 1945 he was appointed AOC in C Fighter Command, before being made Commander in Chief, Air Forces Western Europe. In 1951 he became Inspector General of the RAF.