Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Cyril Louis Norton Newall, 1st Baron Newall, was a senior officer of the British Army and Royal Air Force. He commanded units of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force in the First World War, and served as Chief of the Air Staff during the first years of the Second World War. From 1941 to 1946 he was the Governor-General of New Zealand.
Marshal of the RAF Sir Cyril Newall c. 1940
Newall (far left) at a dinner in honour of the Independent Air Force, 1919. He is standing next to Prince Albert, the future George VI. Further right are Hugh Trenchard and Christopher Courtney.
The Air Council meeting in mid-1940; Newall is at the far end of the table, next to Sir Archibald Sinclair.
A 1940 portrait of Newall by Reginald Grenville Eves.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Marshal of the Royal Air Force (MRAF) is the highest rank in the Royal Air Force (RAF). In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), and to retired Chiefs of the Air Staff (CAS), who were promoted to it on their last day of service. While surviving Marshals of the RAF retain the rank for life, the highest rank to which officers on active service are promoted is now air chief marshal. Although general promotions to Marshal of the Royal Air Force have been discontinued since the British defence cuts of the 1990s, further promotions to the rank may still be made in wartime, for members of the Royal Family and certain very senior RAF air officers in peacetime at the discretion of the monarch; all such promotions in peacetime are only honorary, however. In 2012, the then Prince of Wales was promoted to the rank in recognition of his support for his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in her capacity as head of the armed forces (commander-in-chief), while in 2014 Lord Stirrup, who had served as Chief of the Air Staff and Chief of the Defence Staff for over seven years, was also promoted.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Hugh Trenchard.
King George V in the uniform of a Marshal of the RAF
Image: Sir Hugh Trenchard (cropped)
Image: Sir John Salmond in 1925