Victor Hubert Tait

Sir Victor Hubert Tait
Tait in Egyptian uniform
Born	July 8, 1892(1892-07-08)
Died	November 27, 1988(1988-11-27) (aged 96)
Service/branch	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1917-1945
Rank	Air Vice-Marshal
Awards	OBE (1938), CB (1943), KBE (1944)
Other work	President of the British Ice Hockey Association, 1958-1971

Air Vice Marshal Sir Victor Hubert Tait, KBE, CB (July 8, 1892 – November 27, 1988) was a Canadian-born soldier and airman who served with the Royal Canadian Engineers, the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Air Force, and the Egyptian Air Force. He represented Great Britain at ice hockey in the 1928 Winter Olympics. In later life he was an executive of BOAC.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Sportsman 4 Selected honours 5 References

Early life

Tait was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of Samuel Tait, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manitoba.^[1]

Career

During World War I, Tait served initially in the Royal Canadian Engineers, then from 1917 with the Royal Flying Corps. He transferred to the new Royal Air Force, then in the 1930s was seconded to the Egyptian Air Force. In 1937, he was promoted Group Captain.

Returning to the RAF, during World War II, Tait transferred to the RAF's Technical Branch in 1940 and was promoted to Air Commodore. After a spell as Deputy Director of Signals, he was appointed the Director of Radio in 1941, the Director of RDF in 1942 when he was promoted to Air Vice-Marshal. In August 1942 Tait was made Director-General of Signals,^[2] a post he until his retirement from the Air Force in 1945.

After the War he joined the British Overseas Airways Corporation, working as its operations director from 1945 to 1956.

Sportsman

Tait represented Great Britain at ice hockey and competed in the 1928 Winter Olympics, the British team finishing fourth in the Olympic ice hockey tournament of 1928.

He was president of the British Ice Hockey Association from 1958 to 1971.

Selected honours

• 1937 - Commander of the Order of the Nile
• 1938 - Officer of the Order of the British Empire
• 1943 - Commander of the Order of the Bath
• 1944 - Knight of the Order of the British Empire "in recognition of services in planning the landings in Normandy".

References

• Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - Air Vice-Marshal Sir Victor Tait
• profile at olympics.org.uk
• "The Papers of Air Vice Marshal Sir Victor Hubert Tait". http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FTAIT. 
• "Air Force Association of Canada". http://www.airforce.ca/canraf/CANRAF.S-Z.html. 

Military offices
New title	Commander of the Egyptian Air Force 1932-1936	Succeeded by Unknown
Preceded by C W Nutting	Director-General of Signals 1942-1945	Succeeded by W E Theak
Sporting positions
Preceded by Philip Vassar Hunter CBE	President of the BIHA 1958–71	Succeeded by John F "Bunny" Ahearne

Persondata
Name	Tait, Victor
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 8, 1892
Place of birth
Date of death	November 27, 1988
Place of death