MRAF Sholto Douglas
Signed card
Card signed by
Sholto Douglas
Marshal of the RAF
1947
Lord Douglas of Kirtleside (1893-1969) was a wartime Commander-in-Chief for 7 years, longer than any other officer in the British services during WWII. He succeeded Hugh Dowding as C-in-C Fighter Command in 1940 and after the war was appointed Military Governor of the British Zone in Germany which is when this card was signed.
In WW1 Sholto Douglas was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery in August 1914 then transferred to the RFC, rising through the ranks becoming CO of 84 Squadron, flying S.E.5s on the Western Front. After the war Douglas worked briefly for Handley Page as a commercial pilot before re-joining the Royal Air Force in 1920 after a chance meeting with Hugh Trenchard.
The inter-war years gave Douglas the knowledge and professional qualifications for high command and honed his outstanding personal abilities. At the outbreak of war, Douglas served as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff. In November 1940, during the closing stages of the Battle of Britain, he succeeded Hugh Dowding as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Fighter Command, where he pushed for a more offensive posture, including fighter sweeps over occupied Europe.
Post war, as Military Governor and C-in-C of the British Zone in occupied Germany, Lord Douglas had to pass judgement on the fate not only of the Nuremberg war criminals but also of others sentenced to death by military government courts in the British Zone. After retiring from the RAF, Lord Douglas spent 15 years as Chairman of BEA and died in 1969 aged 75.