Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard

Marshal of the Royal Air Force **Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard** GCB OM GCVO DSO (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British Army officer who commanded the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) from August 1915 to January 1918. The RFC was followed by the Royal Air Force (RAF), which was founded in March 1918.

Trenchard, who learnt to fly in 1912, eventually became Chief of the Air Staff in 1919. In that position he reorganised the Air Ministry and laid the foundations of the Royal Air Force.

Trenchard was Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 1931 to 1935. The Commissioner is the highest ranking police officer in the United Kingdom, despite the fact that his authority is generally confined to Greater London.

## Career

As a boy, Trenchard found learning difficult. He failed many tests and only just got into the British Army as an officer. Trenchard first went to India with the Army and then asked to go to South Africa because he wanted to fight in the Boer War. During the fighting, Trenchard was shot in the chest and became unable to walk properly because of damage to his back. He returned to England, where a doctor told him to go to Switzerland because the air was better there. Trenchard became bored and started to bobsleigh. After crashing on a fast bend, Trenchard was able to walk properly because his back was fixed. After his health got better still, Trenchard returned to the war in South Africa.

In 1912, Trenchard learned to fly and joined the Royal Flying Corps. He became the second most important man at the Central Flying School in England and had several important jobs in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. Trenchard was the man in charge of the Royal Flying Corps in France from 1915 to 1917. In 1918, he was the first man in charge of the Royal Air Force (RAF) for a short time. He then went back to France to take over the RAF bombing attacks on Germany. Winston Churchill put him back in charge of the RAF in 1919. Over the next ten years, Trenchard started training bases and made sure that the RAF was used to enforce the law in parts of the British Empire. In the 1930s, Trenchard was in charge of the Metropolitan Police, London's police force, and as an older man, he argued for keeping a large RAF. In modern times, some people say that Trenchard was one of the first people to argue for strategic bombing.

## Other websites

- Air of authority - a history of RAF organisation - Marshal of the RAF The Viscount Trenchard of Wolfeton
- USAF Association Magazine - Trenchard at the creation
- First World War.com - Who's Who: Hugh Trenchard
- History learning site - Hugh Trenchard
- British Ministry of Defence - Trenchard: father of the RAF

## Infobox (military person)

- **birth place**: Taunton, England
- **death place**: London, England
- **placeofburial**: RAF Chapel, Westminster Abbey
- **image**: Sir Hugh Trenchard (cropped).jpg
- **signature**: Trenchard signature.svg
- **caption**: Trenchard in RAF full dress
- **nickname**: The Camel (1890s)
Boom (c. 1912 onwards)
- **rank**: Marshal of the Royal Air Force
- **branch**: British Army (1893–1918)
Royal Flying Corps (1918–1930)
- **commands**: 23rd Mounted Infantry Regiment (acting)
Royal Flying Corps in the Field
 Chief of the Air Staff
Independent Air Force
- **battles**: Second Boer War
World War I
World War II (semi-officially)
- **awards**: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Order of Merit, Member of the Order of Merit
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (List of titles and honours of Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, Full list)
- **laterwork**: Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police
Chairman of the United Africa Company