| Birth: | Oct. 8, 1892
Broken Hill
New South Wales, Australia | | Death: | Mar. 22, 1971
Winchester
Hampshire, England | 
Royal Air Force Commander. During World War II he was instrumental in the setting up of decoy airfields and in the decision to bomb Dresden. Training first as a cadet at Osborne House Naval College, Isle of Wight, he went on to study at Britannia Naval College, Devon. He was encouraged to take up flying by his cousin, the aviation pioneer Arthur Longmore, and gained his Aero Club certificate in 1913, the same year in which he was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy. In 1914 he transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service and spent most of World War I flying over the Western Front, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1916. By the end of the war he had become the first commander of the Royal Naval Air Service's Naval Seaplane Training School at Lee-on-Solent and in 1918 was made a major in the newly formed Royal Air Force. He spent most of the inter-war years in teaching and administrative posts, before becoming Senior Air Staff Officer at Bomber Command in 1936. In 1937 he took part in a Royal Air Force tour of inspection of the Luftwaffe, and the following year was promoted to Air Officer in charge of administration at Bomber Command. With war looming in 1939, he argued in favour of the construction of decoy airfields to deceive the enemy, with the result that the scheme was adopted as official policy in June of that year. After the outbreak of war he was transferred to Fighter Command and served as Senior Air Staff Officer during the Battle of Britain and The Blitz. He headed a 1942 Royal Air Force delegation to Washington and a year later was made Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, with promotion to Air Marshall following in 1944. He was a strong supporter of the controversial policy of bombing German cities such as Dresden, which he believed would hinder the mobilisation of German forces against Russia. Following his retirement from the Royal Air Force with the rank of Air Chief Marshall in 1947 he took a number of civilian positions, being a member of the council for King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers and also serving as Director-General of the English Speaking Union. Evill was featured in the 1969 movie "Battle of Britain", when he was played by Sir Michael Redgrave. (bio by: js)
Search Amazon for Douglas Evill | | | Burial:
Holy Trinity Churchyard
Cuckfield
West Sussex, England
Plot: Churchyard (extension). |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: js
Record added: Feb 19, 2010
Find A Grave Memorial# 48349589 |
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Added by:
Ron Moody
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Added by:
js
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