32 Facts About Trafford Leigh-Mallory

Trafford Leigh-Mallory replaced Park at No 11 Group and Sholto Douglas replaced Dowding as head of RAF Fighter Command.

In 1942, Trafford Leigh-Mallory became Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command before being selected in 1943 to be the C-in-C of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force, which made him the air commander during the Allied Invasion of Normandy.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory died on November 1944 while en route to Ceylon to take up the post of Air Commander-in-Chief South East Asia Command when his aircraft crashed in the French Alps killing all eight people on-board including his wife.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was the younger brother of George Mallory, the noted mountaineer.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory grew up in a large house with many servants including a butler, a valet and a footman as well as numerous maids and gardeners.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was educated at Haileybury and at Magdalene College, Cambridge where he was a member of a literary club and where he made the acquaintance of Arthur Tedder, the future Marshal of the Royal Air Force.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory passed his Bachelor of Laws degree and had applied to the Inner Temple in London to become a barrister when, in 1914, war broke out.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory immediately volunteered to join a Territorial Force battalion of the King's as a private.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 3 October 1914 and transferred to the Lancashire Fusiliers though officer training kept him in England when his battalion embarked.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was promoted to lieutenant on 21 June 1915.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was then transferred to No 5 Squadron in July 1916 before returning to England.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was promoted to temporary captain on 2 November 1916.

At the Armistice, Trafford Leigh-Mallory was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was now a leading authority on army cooperation and in 1931, lectured at the Royal United Services Institute on air cooperation with mechanized forces.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory spent a little over a year in the Protectorate of Uganda, arriving in the country in the late autumn of 1929 and returning to England in December of 1931.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was posted to the RAF in Iraq in Christmas 1935, and, having been promoted to air commodore on 1 January 1936, he returned to England to be appointed commander of No 12 Group, Fighter Command in December 1937.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was visiting Harlaxton Manor when he received the news that he was now commander of No 12 Group.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory took command of 12 Group and proved an energetic organizer and leader.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was greatly liked by his staff, but his relations with his airfield station commanders were strained.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was critical of the tactics of Park who was backed by Sir Hugh Dowding, head of Fighter Command.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory believed that not enough was being done to allow wing-sized formations to operate successfully.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory then worked energetically in political circles to bring about the removal of Park from command of 11 Group.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory took over from Park as commander of 11 Group in December 1940.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was promoted to acting air marshal on 13 July 1942.

In November 1942, Trafford Leigh-Mallory replaced Sholto Douglas as head of Fighter Command and was promoted to the temporary rank of air marshal on 1 December 1942.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in January 1943 and following a tour of air and army headquarters in Africa began lobbying for a unified command of the Allied air forces for the forthcoming invasion of Europe.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was promoted to the substantive rank of air vice-marshal on 15 December 1943 and to the substantive rank of air marshal on 1 January 1944.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory resisted, insisting that sacrifices were unfortunate but necessary if the air plan was to have any effect.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory is the only airman who is out to win the land battle and has no jealous reactions.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory married Doris Sawyer in 1915; the couple had two children.

Trafford Leigh-Mallory was a practicing Christian and consistently donated portions of his salary to charity, which he kept private during his life, and it was only revealed after his death.

On 16 August 1944, with the Battle of Normandy almost over, Trafford Leigh-Mallory was appointed Air Commander-in-Chief of South East Asia Command with the temporary rank of air chief marshal.