Geoffrey Salmond

Infobox Military Person
name= William Geoffrey Hanson Salmond
lived= 19 August 1878 – 27 April 1933
placeofbirth=
placeofdeath=


caption=Air Vice-Marshal Sir Geoffrey Salmond
nickname=
allegiance=flag|United Kingdom
serviceyears= 1898–1933
rank= Air Chief Marshal
branch= air force|United Kingdom
commands= Chief of the Air Staff
Air Defence of Great Britain
Fifth Wing, RFC
unit=
battles= South African War
World War I
awards=Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order
Mention in Despatches (7)
laterwork=

Air Chief Marshal Sir William Geoffrey Hanson Salmond KCB, KCMG, DSO (19 August 1878 [FreeBMD transcript of birth entry. [http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/information.pl?r=60919121&d=bmd_1221040128 Births Sep 1878 Dover 2a 961] ] - 27 April 1933) was a senior commander in the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force who served as Chief of the Air Staff.

Salmond was the son of Major-General Sir William Salmond, R.E. (1840-1932), and descended from Major-General J. H. Salmond (1766-1837), military secretary to the Court of Governors of the old East India Company, and author of the"The Mysore War". He attended school at Wellington College, Berkshire, then joined the British Army, undertaking his officer training at Royal Military Academy Woolwich around 1897. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery, 23 June 1898, and saw active service during the Second Boer War. He took part in the relief of Ladysmith and the operations on the Tugela Heights. He received he Queen's Medal and seven clasps, then in 1900 he was sent to China and gained a medal for the operations there.

On 17 April 1913, Salmond joined the reserve of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) although he continued to serve in the regular army. Following staff work in military aeronautics, he went on to take up the post of Officer Commanding, No. 1 Squadron RFC and on 1 August 1919 he was awarded a permanent commission in the RAF.

In 1916 he was sent to command the 5th Wing, RFC, in Egypt, and in July, 1916, he was promoted to temporary Brigadier-General and given command of the RFC in the Middle East, a post which he held with brief intervals, until the end of 1921. The DSO was conferred on him in the "London Gazette" of March 3, 1917, "for conspicuous ability and devotion to duty when personally directing the work of the Royal Flying Corps during the action. The striking success attained was largely due to his magnificent personal example." The action referred to was during the operations in Sinai at the end of 1916. In this command he was responsible for providing air cooperation for General Jan Smuts's force in East Africa, for the forces in Salonika and Mesopotamia, for Allenby's conquest of Palestine, and for the RFC in India.While holding the command of the Middle East, he had laid out an airway from Cairo to South Africa, clearing a chain of aerodromes in Central Africa. His idea was to send a demonstration flight or flights of R.A.F. aircraft across Africa, thus providing the link of which Cecil Rhodes had dreamed in a Cape-to-Cairo railway. Salmond contemplated flights by both landplane and flying-boat. He was not destined to put his idea into execution, though his airway was used by Sir Pierre van Ryneveld and Sir Christopher Brand on their first flight to South Africa.

On 1 April 1933, Air Chief Marshal Salmond took over from his brother as Chief of the Air Staff. However, his time as the professional head of the RAF was cut short. William Geoffrey Salmond died on 27 April 1933 and his brother was temporarily re-appointed as Chief of the Air Staff.

He married Margaret Carr, daughter of William Carr in 1910.

References

* [http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/SalmondW.htm Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - Air Chf Mshl Salmond]
*

Further reading

* Baker, Anne. "From Biplane to Spitfire: the life of Air Chief Marshal Sir Geoffrey Salmond KCB KCMG DSO" Pen & Sword Ltd, 2003, ISBN 0 85052 980 8

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-succession box
title=Commander-in-Chief Air Defence of Great Britain
before=Sir Edward Ellington
after=Sir Robert Brooke-Popham
years=1931–1933
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