Sholto Douglas , 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside Marshal of the Royal Air Force William Sholto Douglas , 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside , GCB , MC , DFC ( 23 December 1893 – 29 October 1969 ) was a senior figure in the Royal Air Force up to and during World War II . Early life . Douglas was born in Headington , Oxfordshire , the son of Professor Robert Langton Douglas and his wife Margaret Jane ( née Cannon ) . On his father ' s side he was descended from Sir Archibald Douglas , a younger son of William Douglas , 1st Earl of Queensberry . He was educated at Emanuel School , Tonbridge School and Lincoln College , Oxford . Career . At the outbreak of World War I Douglas was commissioned in the Royal Field Artillery . In 1915 , following a disagreement with his Commanding Officer , he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps joining 2 Squadron as an observer . He soon trained as a pilot and earned Royal Aero Club certificate No 1301 . By September 1917 he was a major and Commanding Officer of 84 Squadron . The squadron became one of the premier RFC / RAF fighter units in 1918 and by the end of the war Douglas had been awarded a Military Cross and a Distinguished Flying Cross . Post - war Douglas worked briefly for Handley Page and as a commercial pilot before rejoining the Royal Air Force in 1920 after a chance meeting with Hugh Trenchard . He became an RAF instructor before being appointed to the Air Ministry in 1936 . He was raised to Air Vice Marshal in 1938 and made assistant chief of air staff . In April 1940 , with World War II well under way , he was made Deputy Chief of the Air Staff . During 1940 , Douglas and Trafford Leigh - Mallory clashed with the head of No . 11 Group , Keith Park , and the head of Fighter Command , Hugh Dowding , over strategy in the Battle of Britain . Douglas argued for a more aggressive engagement with a ' Big Wing ' strategy . When Charles Portal was made Chief of the Air Staff in October 1940 he supported Douglas , moving Park and Dowding and appointing Douglas to replace Dowding as Air Officer Commanding - in - Chief ( AOCinC ) of Fighter Command . As commander - in - chief of Fighter Command , Douglas was responsible for rebuilding of the command ' s strength after the attrition of the Battle of Britain , but also for bringing it on the offensive to wrest the initiative in the air from the German Luftwaffe . He was therefore one of the main orchestrators of the only partially successful Circus offensive . In 1942 Douglas was replaced at Fighter Command by Leigh - Mallory and was transferred to Egypt , becoming AOCinC of RAF Middle East Command in 1943 . Douglas returned to England in 1944 to head Coastal Command during the invasion of Normandy . Douglas was well rewarded after the war . He was the first commander of the British Zone of Occupation in Germany and in 1946 he was promoted to Marshal of the Royal Air Force , one of only two RAF officers ever to hold this rank without serving as Chief of the Air Staff . In 1948 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Douglas of Kirtleside , of Dornock in the County of Dumfries . Douglas retired in 1948 and became chairman of BEA in 1949 a post he retained until 1964 . He published two volumes of autobiography , " Years of Combat " , covering the first world war , and " Years of Command " covering the second . Personal life . Lord Douglas of Kirtleside was married three times . He married firstly Mary ( née Howard ) in 1919 . They had no children and were divorced in 1932 . He married secondly Joan , daughter of Colonel H . C . Denny , in 1933 . This marriage was also childless and ended in divorce in 1952 . He married thirdly Hazel , daughter of George Eric Maas Walker and widow of Captain W . E . R . Walker , in 1955 . They had one daughter . Lord Douglas of Kirtleside died in October 1969 , aged 75 , when the barony became extinct .