Lionel Charlton

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Lionel Evelyn Oswald Charlton
7 July 1879 – April 18, 1958 (aged 78)
Place of birth Piccadilly, London, England
Place of death Hexham, Northumberland, England
Allegiance Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army (1897-1918)
Flag of the Royal Air Force Royal Air Force (1918-1928)
Rank Air Commodore
Commands held No. 8 Squadron RFC
V Brigade RAF
No. 3 Group RAF
Battles/wars South African War, World War I

Air Commodore Lionel Evelyn Oswald Charlton CB, CMG, DSO, RAF (7 July 1879 - 18 April 1958) was educated at Brighton College and entered the Lancashire Fusiliers. Shortly before World War I he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and after becoming one of its first brigadier-generals went on to become a senior commander in the Royal Air Force.

During the First World War, Charlton served in the Royal Flying Corps, initially as a flight commander on No. 3 Squadron and later as the first Officer Commanding of No. 8 Squadron.[1] On 15 April 1915 when No. 8 Squadron was grouped with No. 13 Squadron to form the new 5th Wing of the RFC, Charlton temporarily took command until he travelled to France.[2]

On 2 February 1923, Air Commodore Charlton took up the post of Chief Staff Officer at the headquarters of the RAF's Iraq Command. It was at this time that the RAF employed the bombing of Iraqi villages with the intent of pacifying tribal opposition. Charlton opposed this policy and he went on to openly criticize such bombing action. Within a year of his arrival, Charlton resigned from his post in Iraq. His opposition to the bombing policy is said to have started with a visit to the local hospital in Diwaniya, where he witnessed horribly mangled civilians, including women and children, who were among the victims of a British air raid.[3]

On his return to Great Britain, Charlton expected to be summoned to see the Chief of the Air Staff, Hugh Trenchard. When the summons did not come, Charlton requested an interview with Trenchard. Trenchard asked Charlton why he has requested the interview and the following exchange took place:

  • Charlton: "About my reasons for resigning."
  • Trenchard: "Look here, Charlton. You resigned, and I accept your resignation. There's nothing more to be said."
  • Charlton: "Won't there be an official enquiry, then?"
  • Trenchard: "An inquiry into what? Your conscience? Certainly not."

Although Charlton was barred from further postings in Iraq, he went on to serve as Air Officer Commanding No 3 Group. Charlton requested early retirement, which he was granted.

In retirement, he became a successful author of adventure fiction for children.

In 1938, he published "The Air Defence of Britain", a reasoned analysis and prediction of the then-impending Second World War, correctly emphasizing the crucial importance which bombing civilian populations would have [4].

In recent years, the memory of Charlton was taken up by opponents of the present war in Iraq, and specifically by British opponents of their country's involvement in that war (see[3]), who hold him up as an example to be emulated by present-day officers.

Commentator Mike Marqusee in The Guardian expressed the opinion that Charlton should have had a monument erected in his honour at London, rather than his fellow RAF commander Arthur "Bomber" Harris who conducted the bombings of Iraq without compunction and went on to bomb the German cities in WWII.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Barass, Malcolm (2007-06-06). Air Commodore L E O Charlton (HTML). Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  2. ^ Early Days - World War I - 1915-1920 (HTML). No. 8 Squadron Web Site (2006-09-04). Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
  3. ^ Sven Lindqvist, "A History of Bombing" (Nu dog du: bombernas århundrade), 1999, relevant quotation at [1]
  4. ^ Air Commodore L.E.O. Charlton, "The Air Defence of Britain", Penguin Books, London, October 1938
  5. ^ Mike Marqusee, "Imperial whitewash - feelgood versions of British history are blinding us to the ways in which we are even now repeating it" in The Guardian, July 31, 2006 [2]

[edit] See also