Marshal of the Royal Air ForceArthur William Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder,GCB (11 July 1890 – 3 June 1967) was a BritishRoyal Air Force officer and peer. He was a pilot and squadron commander in theRoyal Flying Corps in theFirst World War and he went on to serve as a senior officer in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the inter-war years when he served in Turkey, Great Britain and the Far East.
DuringWorld War II, as Air Officer Commanding of theRAF Middle East Command, Tedder directed RAF air operations in the Mediterranean and North Africa, including theevacuation of Crete andOperation Crusader in North Africa. His bombing tactics became known as the "Tedder Carpet". Later in the war Tedder took command of theMediterranean Air Command and in that role was closely involved in the planning of theAllied invasion of Sicily and theAllied invasion of Italy. WhenOperation Overlord—the invasion of France—came to be planned, Tedder was appointed Deputy Supreme Commander atSupreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force under GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower.
After the war, Tedder served asChief of the Air Staff, in which role he advocated increased recruitment in the face of many airmen leaving the RAF, doubled the size ofRAF Fighter Command and implemented arrangements for theBerlin Airlift in 1948. He also held senior positions in business and academia.
Tedder was born the son of Sir Arthur John Tedder and Emily Charlotte Tedder (née Bryson) at the Glenguin Distillery (nowGlengoyne) in theCampsie Fells, north ofGlasgow.[1] His father was distinguished as the Commissioner of theBoard of Customs who devised the old age pension scheme.[1] His father's occupation meant that the young Tedder saw different parts of theBritish Isles, spending 1895 to 1898 inLerwick in theShetland Isles and 1899–1901 inElgin, in theCounty of Moray.[1] In 1902 the family moved toCroydon inSurrey where Tedder attendedWhitgift School until 1909, when he went up to theUniversity of Cambridge.[1] Tedder spent his university years (1909–13) atMagdalene College, where he read history.[1] He was awarded a lower second class honours degree in June 1912.[1]
Tedder spent the summer of 1912 inBerlin studyingGerman.[1] With the start of a new academic year, he decided to return to Magdalene for a fourth year in order that he might prepare himself for a career as a diplomat.[1] On 2 September 1913, during his last year at Magdalene, Tedder gained a reserve commission as asecond lieutenant in theDorsetshire Regiment.[2]
After university, Tedder joined theColonial Service as a cadet and departed Britain in February 1914, serving in the administration inFiji.[3] He did not find colonial life in Fiji to his liking, and whenwar was declared, he returned to Britain so that he could join the regularArmy.[1]
Tedder was promoted tolieutenant in theDorset Regiment on 14 October 1914,[4] and arrived back in Britain in December.[1] He was posted to a reserve unit atWyke Regis on the Dorset coast where he seriously injured his knee in February.[1] Following his injury Tedder was unable to carry out full infantry service and, although he briefly carried out duties at a base camp inCalais,[1] he pressed for a transfer to theRoyal Flying Corps (RFC).[3]
In January 1916, Tedder was accepted into the RFC and he was asked to attend theNo. 1 School of Aeronautics[2] in Reading. He was promoted tocaptain on 21 March 1916.[5] In April he attended theCentral Flying School where he learned to fly and gained his 'wings'.[2] In June 1916, Tedder served as a pilot withNo. 25 Squadron RFC flying theBristol Scout C on theWestern Front.[1] On 9 August 1916, Tedder was given additional responsibilities as he was made a flight commander[6] with 25 Squadron.[1] The first day of 1917 saw Tedder promoted tomajor[7] and appointed officer commandingNo. 70 Squadron RFC.[2] Tedder remained on the Western Front and his new squadron was equipped with theSopwith 1½ Strutter.[2] He was awarded the ItalianSilver Medal for Military Valour on 26 May 1917.[8]
Tedder was appointed officer commandingNo. 67 Squadron atRFC Shawbury on 25 June 1917[2] and became commander of the School of Navigation and Bomb Dropping inEgypt the following year.[2] Another change soon followed and on 24 June 1918 Tedder was appointed officer commanding38th Wing, also based in Egypt.[2] He was promoted to the temporary rank oflieutenant colonel on 23 July 1918[9] (rank relinquished on 2 April 1919).[10]
Tedder was given command of No. 274 Squadron, equipped with theHandley Page V/1500, the largest RAF bomber of its time, atRAF Bircham Newton in May 1919.[2] On 1 August 1919, Tedder accepted a permanent commission in the new Royal Air Force (RAF).[11] Renamed No. 207 Squadron in February 1920 and equipped withDH9a bombers, the squadron was briefly deployed toTurkey in 1922–23 during theChanak Crisis.[12] Tedder attended theRN Staff College in late 1923 and through the spring of 1924.[2]
Promoted towing commander on 1 January 1924,[2] Tedder became station commander atRAF Digby and the Commandant ofNo. 2 Flying Training School there in September 1924, before joining the air staff in the Directorate of Training at theAir Ministry in January 1927.[2] He attended theImperial Defence College in 1928 and then became Assistant Commandant at theRAF Staff College in January 1929.[2] Promoted togroup captain on 1 January 1931,[2] he went to the Air Armament School atRAF Eastchurch as officer commanding in January 1932.[2] On 4 April 1934 he became Director of Training at the Air Ministry,[13] gaining promotion toair commodore on 1 July 1934.[14]
In November 1936, Tedder was appointedAir Officer Commanding (AOC) RAF Far Eastern Forces[2] which gave him command over RAF units fromBurma toHong Kong andBorneo.[1] Appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Bath on 1 February 1937,[15] he was promoted toair vice marshal on 1 July 1937[16] and became Director General for Research in the Air Ministry in July 1938.[2]
At the outbreak of war in 1939, Tedder's department was transferred to the newly createdMinistry of Aircraft Production, but Tedder was unable to form a good working relationship with the minister,Lord Beaverbrook and consequently withPrime MinisterChurchill and on 29 November 1940, he became Deputy Air Officer Commanding in Chief,RAF Middle East Command[2] with the acting rank ofair marshal.[17] Shortly thereafter, Tedder was ordered by Churchill to resurrect theTakoradi air route.[18]
Tedder was appointed as Air Officer Commanding in Chief, RAF Middle East Command on 1 June 1941,[2] with the temporary rank of air marshal[19] (made permanent in April 1942).[20] He had not been Churchill's first choice for the role but when the preferred choice (Air Vice-MarshalO T Boyd) was captured, Tedder was appointed.[1] As head of the RAF Middle East Command, he commanded air operations in the Mediterranean and North Africa, including the evacuation ofCrete in May 1941 andOperation Crusader in North Africa in late 1941.[1] Tedder was advanced toKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1942New Year Honours,[21]mentioned in despatches for his services in the Middle East on 30 June 1942[22] and promoted to the temporary rank ofair chief marshal on 3 July 1942.[23]
Tedder oversaw the buildup of the air arm in theWestern Desert and, more importantly, the development of new more effective operational and administrative policies which turned it into a highly effective force which was key to the Allied victory at the decisiveBattle of El Alamein in October 1942.[24] One of his bombing tactics became known as the "Tedder Carpet".[25] He was advanced toKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 27 November 1942 in recognition of his services in the Middle East.[26]
In February 1943 Tedder took command ofMediterranean Air Command,[2] serving under U.S. GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower (the theatre commander), and in that role was closely involved in the planning of theAllied invasion of Sicily and then theAllied invasion of Italy.[27] He was awarded the AmericanLegion of Merit on 27 August 1943[28] and awarded the Grand Cross of the PolishOrder of Polonia Restituta on 1 October 1943.[29] He went on to be Commander ofMediterranean Allied Air Forces, which took in an expanded group of air forces, in December 1943.[2]
WhenOperation Overlord—the invasion of France—came to be planned, Tedder was appointed Deputy Supreme Commander atSHAEF beneath General Eisenhower, taking up the role in January 1944.[2] However he developed anantipathy towards the British GeneralBernard Montgomery and during the difficultBattle of Normandy and later, he was a critic of Montgomery's performance and advocated Montgomery's removal from command.[27] In the last year of the war, Tedder was sent to theSoviet Union to seek assistance as the Western Front came under pressure during theBattle of the Bulge.[27] When theunconditional surrender of the Germans came in May 1945 Tedder signed on behalf of General Eisenhower.[27] He was promoted to the substantive rank of Air Chief Marshal on 6 June 1945.[30] Tedder was awarded theSovietOrder of Kutuzov (1st Class) on 28 August 1945[31] and promoted toMarshal of the Royal Air Force on 12 September 1945.[32]
Tedder took over fromCharles Portal asChief of the Air Staff on 1 January 1946.[2] In that role he advocated increased recruiting in the face of many airmen leaving the service, doubled the size ofFighter Command and implemented arrangements for theBerlin Airlift in 1948.[33] He was granted a peerage asBaron Tedder, of Glenguin in theCounty of Stirling on 8 February 1946[34] and received the AmericanDistinguished Service Medal on 14 June 1946.[35] In 1947 he delivered theLees Knowles Lecture, which was then published asAir Power in War.[36] He moved on to become chairman,British Joint Services Mission inWashington in January 1950 before retiring in May 1951.[2] In 1951 Tedder accepted an invitation to chair theRoyal Commission on University Education in Dundee which ultimately led to the creation of theQueen's College, Dundee as a college of theUniversity of St Andrews.[37] His son John would later be a professor at both the University of Dundee (as Queen's College eventually became) and at St Andrews.[37]
Tedder was the author of a highly regarded essay on the history of theRoyal Navy and also composed his war memoirs.[1] In November 1950 he was electedChancellor of the University of Cambridge.[1] He also served as Chairman of theStandard Motor Company from 1954 to 1960[38] and vice-chairman of theBoard of Governors of the BBC.[1] In his later years he developedParkinson's disease and died at his home atBanstead inSurrey on 3 June 1967.[1]
His ashes are buried inSt Clement Danes in London, the RAF church. His name can be seen on a memorial inWestminster Abbey.[39]
In 1915 Tedder married Rosalinde Maclardy; they had two sons and a daughter.[1] Following the death of his first wife in an aircraft crash in Egypt in January 1943, Tedder married Marie (Toppy) Black (née Seton) in October 1943.[1] Tedder was the father of: Dick (killed in France 1940),John Michael (1926–1994; Late Purdie Professor of Chemistry,University of St. Andrews),Richard (Professor of Virology atUCL) and Mena.[1]
|
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | OC No. 2 Flying Training School RAF 1924–1926 | Succeeded by J H Herring |
| AOC RAF Far East 1936–1938 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Air C-in-C Middle East Command 1941–1943 | Succeeded by |
| New title Command established | Air C-in-C Mediterranean Air Command February – December 1943 | Command disestablished Merged with North-West African Air Forces to form Mediterranean Allied Air Forces |
| New title Merger of Mediterranean Air Command and North-West African Air Forces | Air C-in-C Mediterranean Allied Air Forces 1943–1944 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief of the Air Staff 1946–1950 | |
| Preceded by | Chief of the British Joint Staff Mission to Washington 1950–1952 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1950–1967 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Tedder 1946–1967 | Succeeded by |
