Francis Fogarty Air Chief Marshal Sir Francis Joseph Fogarty GBE KCB DFC AFC ( 16 January 1899 – 12 January 1973 ) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during World War II and also in the post - War years . During World War I he served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps . He was transferred to the RAF on its creation in 1918 and remained in the Service during the inter - War years . Early life and pre - World War II career . Francis Fogarty was born in Cork , Ireland on 16 January 1899 . Fogarty attended Farranferris College in Cork . In 1917 he joined the Royal Flying Corps as an Air Mechanic . However , he was soon selected for training as a pilot and was commissioned as a second lieutenant . During the last year of World War I , Fogarty served as a pilot on No . 98 Squadron , participating in the Battle of Amiens but having to land with engine trouble before he could bomb German airfields or rail lines . Remaining in the RAF after the war , Fogarty was soon to see active service again , this time in Iraq . He was posted to No . 84 Squadron where he continued operational flying gaining a mention in dispatches and , after two years , receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1922 for distinguished service . After spending the mid - 1920s as a qualified flying instructor at No . 2 Flying Training School , Fogarty returned to Iraq and No . 84 Squadron in 1928 as a flight commander . The first half of the 1930s saw Fogarty return to Great Britain , initially as the adjutant and qualified flying instructor on No . 601 ( County of London ) Squadron and then a short time later carrying out the same roles on No . 604 ( County of Middlesex ) Squadron , which he was instrumental in establishing with the assistance of a warrant officer and 19 airmen . In 1935 , he took up his first command appointment as the Officer Commanding No . 84 Squadron back in Iraq before returning to Great Britain in 1937 to serve on the air staff of the recently formed Bomber Command . The following year he was appointed Officer Commanding No . 37 ( Bomber ) Squadron at Feltwell in Norfolk . World War II . Although promoted to wing commander in 1938 , Fogarty was promoted to group captain in 1940 and , around the same time , appointed Station Commander of RAF Mildenhall which was a bomber station . The following year on 8 September 1941 , he was appointed to lead No . 8 ( Bomber ) Group within Bomber Command . In 1943 Fogarty was a member of the RAF mission to Ottawa and in August 1944 he became the Senior Air Staff Officer at the headquarters of No . 4 Group . Towards the end of the war he was promoted to acting air vice - marshal and became the Air Officer Administration for the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces . Post - War . After the War , Fogarty was appointed Air Officer Commanding RAF Italy before becoming Air Officer Administration of the RAF Mediterranean and Middle East command in 1946 . The following summer he returned to Great Britain to become the Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters Flying Training Command and receive a substantive promotion to air vice - marshal . From 1949 to 1952 he was Air Officer Commanding - in - Chief the Far East Air Force , dealing with the challenges of the Malayan Emergency and receiving promotion to air marshal in 1950 . From 1952 to the end of 1956 he was the RAF ' s Air Member for Personnel , gaining his final promotion to air chief marshal towards the end of 1953 . He retired in January 1957 . In retirement Fogarty became involved in business , as the director of Racal Electronics and also as president of the British Airport Construction and Equipment Association . In addition he was a deputy president of the Air League and director - general of the English Speaking Union . Fogarty died at his home in Surrey on 12 January 1973 . External links . city