Charles Elworthy , Baron Elworthy Marshal of the Royal Air Force Samuel Charles Elworthy , Baron Elworthy , ( 23 March 1911 – 4 April 1993 ) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force . He served as commander of a squadron of Blenheim bombers and then as a station commander during World War II . He became Chief of the Air Staff in the mid - 1960s and implemented the cancellation of the TSR - 2 strike aircraft and the HS681 military transport aircraft programmes . He also became Chief of the Defence Staff in which role he oversaw the evacuation from Aden in November 1967 and the growing crisis in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s . RAF career . Born the son of Percy Ashton Elworthy and Bertha Victoria Elworthy ( née Julius ) and educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College , Cambridge , Elworthy was called to the Bar at Lincoln ' s Inn before he joined the Reserve of Air Force Officers as a pilot officer on probation on 14 August 1933 . He was confirmed in the rank on 14 August 1934 . Elworthy was granted a commission as a pilot officer in No . 600 ( City of London ) ( Fighter ) Squadron , part of the Auxiliary Air Force , where he flew Harts , with effect from 15 January 1935 . He became attached to the Royal Air Force on 28 October 1935 and joined No . 15 Squadron at RAF Abingdon , again flying Harts , with effect from the same date . He was granted a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force on 3 March 1936 , promoted to flying officer on 3 September 1936 and became Personal Assistant to Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Ludlow - Hewitt , the Air Officer Commanding - in - Chief at RAF Bomber Command , in November 1937 . Promoted to flight lieutenant on 3 September 1938 , he was posted as a pilot and then a flight commander with No . 108 Squadron at RAF Bassingbourn flying Blenheim bombers in January 1939 . Elworthy served in World War II , initially in a training role with No . 108 Squadron and then , having been promoted to the temporary rank of squadron leader on 1 March 1940 ( made permanent in April 1942 ) he became Chief Flying Instructor with No . 13 Officer Training Unit in April 1940 . He was appointed a flight commander with No . 82 Squadron flying Blenheims from RAF Watton in August 1940 and then Officer Commanding No . 82 Squadron in December 1940 . He was awarded the Air Force Cross on 1 January 1941 and the Distinguished Flying Cross on 7 March 1941 . In March 1941 , despite heavy and accurate anti - aircraft fire , he scored a direct hit on an enemy tanker setting it on fire : he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for this on 22 April 1941 . Elworthy joined the air staff responsible for operations at Headquarters No . 2 Group in May 1941 , was promoted to the rank of wing commander on a temporary basis on 1 September 1941 and mentioned in despatches on 24 September 1941 . He transferred to the air staff responsible for operations at Headquarters RAF Bomber Command in October 1941 and became Group Captain responsible for operations there in May 1942 . Promoted to wing commander on a war substantive basis on 9 November 1942 , he was mentioned in despatches again on 1 January 1943 . He became Station Commander at RAF Waddington in April 1943 and was mentioned in despatches yet again on 14 January 1944 . In April 1944 he was made Bomber Command ' s Representative to Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder , who was then serving as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander , Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force . He was , in this role , closely involved in the planning for operations to cut German rail communications . He was made Senior Air Staff Officer at No . 5 Group in August 1944 : in this role he was closely involved in the sinking of the Tirpitz in November 1944 . He was promoted to group captain on a war substantive basis on 22 February 1945 . After the war Elworthy joined the staff at the Central Bombing Establishment at RAF Marham . He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1946 . He became Senior Air Staff Officer at No . 2 ( Indian ) Group in March 1947 and the first commanding officer of the Royal Pakistan Air Force Station , Drigh Road ( now PAF Base Faisal ) on 1 November 1947 . He attended the Combined Staff College from May 1949 and was promoted to group captain on 1 July 1949 . He went on to be Deputy Director of Personnel at the Air Ministry in December 1949 , Station Commander at RAF Tangmere in December 1951 and Station Commander at RAF Odiham in March 1953 . Appointed a Lieutenant of Royal Victorian Order on 16 July 1953 he became Commander of the Metropolitan Sector in December 1953 . Promoted to air commodore on 1 January 1956 , he attended the Imperial Defence College in 1956 and became Commandant of the RAF Staff College , Bracknell , in January 1957 . Promoted to acting air vice marshal on 1 January 1957 and to air vice marshal on a substantive basis on 1 July 1957 , Elworthy became Deputy Chief of the Air Staff with the acting rank of air marshal on 15 November 1959 . Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1960 New Year Honours and promoted to air marshal on a substantive basis on 1 July 1960 , he became Commander - in - Chief British Forces Arabian Peninsular in August 1960 . Advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1961 New Year Honours , he became Commander - in - Chief Middle East Command ( Aden ) , a newly formed unifed command , in March 1961 . He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1962 New Year Honours . Elworthy was made Chief of the Air Staff on 1 September 1963 . As Chief of the Air Staff , he worked closely with Secretary of State Denis Healey implementing the cancellation of the TSR - 2 strike aircraft and the HS681 military transport aircraft programmes . He was promoted to Marshal of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1967 and became Chief of the Defence Staff on 4 August 1967 . In this role he oversaw the evacuation from Aden in November 1967 and the growing crisis in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s . He retired in April 1971 . Later life . Elworthy was made a life peer as Baron Elworthy , of Timaru in New Zealand and of Elworthy in the County of Somerset , on 9 May 1972 . He was made Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle on 13 April 1971 and became Lord Lieutenant of Greater London in 1973 . He was also Chairman of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 , of the King Edward VII ' s Hospital for Officers and the Royal Over - Seas League as well as a Governor of Bradfield College , Wellington College and Marlborough College . Elworthy was made a Knight of the Garter on 23 April 1977 . He resigned from his various posts in 1978 and returned to his native New Zealand . He died at Christchurch in New Zealand on 4 April 1993 . Family . In 1936 Elworthy married Audrey Hutchinson ; they had three sons and one daughter . One of his sons is Air Commodore the Hon Sir Timothy Elworthy KCVO CBE , a former Director of Royal Travel to the Queen .