| Sir William Forster Dickson | |
|---|---|
Dickson sitting down to afternoon tea while attending a conference at the Tactical Headquarters of the 8th Army, near Venafro, Italy. |
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| Born | 24 September 1898 Northwood, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 12 September 1987 (aged 88) RAF Hospital Wroughton, Wiltshire, England |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | 1916 – 1959 |
| Rank | Marshal of the Royal Air Force |
| Battles/wars | World War I World War II |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order Air Force Cross Mention in Despatches (3) |
| Other work | Master of The Glass Sellers’ Company |
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Forster Dickson GCB, KBE, DSO, AFC (24 September 1898 – 12 September 1987) was a Royal Naval Air Service aviator during World War I, an middle-ranking Royal Air Force officer during the inter-war years and a senior Royal Air Force commander during and after World War II. For his last military appointment in the late 1950s, Dickson served as the first Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) of the United Kingdom and thus the professional head of the British Armed Forces.
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Dickson was born in Northwood in Middlesex.[1] He was a direct descendent of Admiral Horatio Nelson through his mother.[1] Dickson was educated both at Bowden House in the Sussex town of Seaford and at Haileybury College.[1]
Dickson joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1916[2] and after completing flying training, he served as a pilot at RNAS Grain on the Isle of Grain.[2] Later in the War he was a pilot on HMS Furious[2] where he carried out pioneering work, performing deck landings and taking part in the first bombing raid from an aircraft carrier in history. He transferred to the Royal Air Force on its creation in April 1918. Dickson spent the last few weeks of the War on HMS Revenge before taking up duties on HMS Queen Elizabeth in 1919.[2]
The early 1920s saw Dickson transfer rapidly from one post to another. In March 1920 he was appointed to the staff at RAF Gosport[2] and two months later he was appointed as a pilot on No. 210 Squadron[2] which was based at Gosport and had recently been reformed. Just under a year later in April 1921, Dickson returned to sea on board the aircraft carrier HMS Argus[2] and at the start of 1922 Dickson was sent to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough where he served as a test pilot.[2] It was not until 1923 that Dickson's career became more settled. In May he was appointed the Personal Advisor to the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and Director of Operations and Intelligence, Air Commodore John Steel[2] and he remained in this post until July 1926 when he was removed from duties due to illness to No. 56 Squadron.[2] In 1930 he became Personal Assistant to the Air Officer Commanding RAF India.[2]
He was appointed Officer Commanding No. 25 Squadron in January 1935 and then joined the Directing Staff at the RAF Staff College, Bracknell in March 1936.[2]
At the start of World War II, Dickson was on the staff of the Directorate of Plans in the rank of wing commander.[2] He was appointed to the Joint Planning Staff, which was a subcommittee of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and involved supporting the planning carried out by Winston Churchill and the senior British military commanders.[3] Dickson continued in this work for the first two years of the War, receiving a temporary promotion to group captain at the start of 1940, being appointed Director of Plans in March 1941[2] and gaining an acting promotion to air commodore in April 1941.[2]
In May 1942 Dickson took up post as the Senior Air Staff Officer at the Headquarters of No. 9 (Fighter) Group.[2] However, Dickson did not remain as a staff officer for long. The following month he was appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 9 (Fighter) Group and later in 1942 he took up command of No. 10 Group.[2] While serving as AOC No. 10 Group, Dickson accompanied C-in-C Fighter Command Air Marshal Leigh-Mallory on a visit to the Air Headquarters in the Western Desert. On their return to Great Britain, Dickson was given the task of setting up No. 83 Group,[2] which as the first composite group would provide the model for the future groups of the soon to be established Second Tactical Air Force which was formed for the planned invasion of Europe.[4]
Although Dickson had spent considerable time in planning and preparation for the invasion of Nazi occupied Europe, he did not take part in the operations. In late 1943 he was granted a temporary promotion to air vice-marshal and in April 1944 he was given command of the Desert Air Force[2] (formerly the Air Headquarters in the Western Desert) which was operating in Italy after the Allied victory in North Africa in 1943.
Towards the very end of 1944, Dickson was recalled to London, taking up the post of Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Policy), a post which he held throughout the rest of the War and into mid-1946.[2]
He was appointed Vice-Chief of the Air Staff in 1946, Commander-in-Chief RAF Mediterranean & Middle East in 1948, and Air Member for Supply and Organisation in 1950.[2]
He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1953 to 1955.[2] As such he was the only Chief of the Air Staff to have been originally commissioned in the Royal Navy (Sir Frederick Sykes served in the Navy for a little under a year even though he was originally commissioned in the Army). He was the first and only Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, serving from 1 January 1956 until 1 January 1959 when he became the first Chief of the Defence Staff, a post he held until July 1959.[2]
In retirement he worked for a variety of charitable organisations including the Royal Central Asian Society, the Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society and the Forces Help Society.[5]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by L H Slatter |
Air Officer Commanding No. 9 Group 1942 |
Succeeded by C R Steele |
| Preceded by A H Orlebar |
Air Officer Commanding No. 10 Group 1942 – 1943 |
Succeeded by C R Steele |
| New title | Air Officer Commanding No. 83 Group 1943 – 1944 |
Succeeded by H Broadhurst |
| Preceded by H Broadhurst |
Air Officer Commanding Desert Air Force 1944 |
Succeeded by R M Foster |
| Preceded by D Colyer |
Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Policy) 1944 – 1946 |
Succeeded by Sir William Elliott |
| Preceded by Sir Douglas Evill |
Vice-Chief of the Air Staff 1946 – 1947 |
Succeeded by Sir James Robb |
| Preceded by Sir Charles Medhurst |
Commander-in-Chief RAF Mediterranean and Middle East 1948–1950 |
Succeeded by Sir John Baker |
| Preceded by Sir George Pirie |
Air Member for Supply and Organisation 1950–1952 |
Succeeded by Sir John Whitworth-Jones |
| Preceded by Sir John Slessor |
Chief of the Air Staff 1953–1955 |
Succeeded by Sir Dermot Boyle |
| New title Post established
|
Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee 1956–1958 |
Post redesignated as Chief of the Defence Staff |
| New title Post established by redesignating
Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee |
Chief of the Defence Staff 1959 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Mountbatten of Burma |
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