The Wartime Memories Project - The Great War

Group Capt. Hugh Caswell Tremenheere Dowding Royal Flying Corps


Great War>


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.



    Site Home

    Great War Home

    Search

    Add Stories & Photos

    Library

    Help & FAQs

 Features

    Allied Army

    Day by Day

    RFC & RAF

    Prisoners of War

    War at Sea

    Training for War

    The Battles

    Those Who Served

    Hospitals

    Civilian Service

    Women at War

    The War Effort

    Central Powers Army

    Central Powers Navy

    Imperial Air Service

    Library

    World War Two

 Submissions

    Add Stories & Photos

    Time Capsule

 Information

    Help & FAQs



    Glossary

    Our Facebook Page

    Volunteering

    News

    Events

    Contact us

    Great War Books

    About


Advertisements

World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment

185828

Group Capt. Hugh Caswell Tremenheere "Stuffy" Dowding

Royal Flying Corps

from:St Ninnians, Moffat, Scotland

My Stepfather, Hugh Dowding, was educated at his father's preparatory school at Moffat and then Winchester, after which he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1899. Failing to gain a commission in the Royal Engineers, he joined the Royal Garrison Artillery, being posted to Gibraltar, then to Ceylon and Hong Kong. In 1904 be was posted to No 7 Mountain Artillery Battery – NWF, in India. From January 1912 he attended Army Staff College. In 1913 he joined the Garrison Artillery on the Isle of Wight

He learnt to fly at the Vickers Flying School, Brooklands, gaining his RAeC Certificate (No 711), on the day he passed out from Camberley, after 1 hour 40 minutes. At the Central Flying School his instructor was Capt. John Salmond. Having gained his 'Wings', he was added to the RFC Reserve List returning to his Garrison Artillery duties on the Isle of Wight. In 1929, following the escalation of trouble in the area, he was sent to Palestine to undertake an inquiry into the need and form of possible re-inforcements for the area.

At the outbreak of war in August 1914 he was Commandant - Dover Assembly Point and later that month he was posted as a Pilot to No 7 Sqn RFC, transferring to No 6 Sqn on the 6th of October 1914. On the 18th of November he was transferred to GSO3, HQ RFC and on the 8th December 1914 he was appointed Flight Commander of No 9 Sqn RFC. On the 27th of January 1915 he became Flight Commander of No 6 Sqn RFC. On the 4th of March 1915 he was appointed Officer i/c Wireless Flight, No 4 Sqn RFC and from 17th March 1915 he became Officer Commanding No 9 Sqn/Wireless Experimental Establishment RFC. From July he was Officer Commanding No 16 Sqn and on the 1st of February the following year was posted to Farnborough to become Officer Commanding, 7th Wing RFC. On the 22nd June he became Officer Commanding, 9th (HQ) Wing RFC. On New Year's day 1917 he was promoted to Officer Commanding, Southern Group Command and on the 5th of August 1917, he became Brigadier-General Commanding, Southern Training Brigade. In 1918 he was Brigadier-General (Administration), HQ No 4 Area. and then Brigadier-General (Administration), HQ North-Eastern Area. In January 1919 he became Brigadier-General (Administration) York, HQ North-Western Area and in June, Brigadier-General (Administration), HQ Northern Area. On the 1st of August 1919 he became Group Capt (Administration), HQ Northern Area and was Re-Seconded to the RAF for further two years.On the 1st of September he became Temporary AOC, Northern Area and on the 18th of October 1919, Officer Commanding, No 16 Group.

Between the wars he was Officer Commanding, No 1 Group then Chief Staff Officer, Inland Area. In August 1924 he became Chief Staff Officer, HQ Iraq Command. In May 1926 he became Director of Training ad in December 1929 AOC, Fighting Area, Air Defence of Great Britain.

On 28 January 1936 he was one of three officers representing the Air Council at the funeral of HM King George V. On the 14 July 1936 he became AOC in C, Fighter Command.

As Air Member for Research and Development in the 1930's he was in a position to oversee the development of the eight gun fighters, Hurricane and Spitfire, but even more importantly his previous experience in wireless experiments gave him an excellent insight into possibilities of it's use in the detection of aircraft. He was able to take these preparations to their logical conclusion when given command of the newly formed Fighter Command in July 1936. He immediately set about developing a system able to make best use of his limited resources and it was this system as much as anything that ensured success in 1940. He established the coastal chain of radar stations (then known as RDF), but the success of radar really lay in the reporting and control system he set up which allowed aircraft to be placed in the right place at the right height in time to meet the threat.

During the Battle of Britain his most difficult problem was the conflict between AVM Leigh-Mallory and AVM Park over tactics in which he supported both Group Commanders and saw that both sets of tactics had their advantages but that they were not necessarily suitable in both situations. From 1938 Dowding was advised of five separate retirement dates, but each one was rescinded for various reasons, therefore, his replacement in November 1940 as AOC in C Fighter Command, when flush with success in the Battle of Britain was seen as a snub by many, although it had in fact been planned.









Related Content:







Can you help us to add to our records?

The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them


Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?

If so please let us know.

Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"

We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.

Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.




Celebrate your own Family History

Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.

Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.














The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.

This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.


Hosted by:

The Wartime Memories Project Website

is archived for preservation by the British Library





Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -

We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.