John Slessor, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

John Slessor

senior commander in the Royal Air Force

Date of Birth: 03-Jun-1897

Place of Birth: Ranikhet, Uttarakhand, India

Date of Death: 12-Jul-1979

Profession: military personnel, aircraft pilot

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


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About John Slessor

  • Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Cotesworth Slessor, (3 June 1897 – 12 July 1979), sometimes known as Jack Slessor, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF), serving as Chief of the Air Staff from 1950 to 1952.
  • As a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, he saw action with No.
  • 17 Squadron in the Middle East, earning the Military Cross, and with No.
  • 5 Squadron on the Western Front, where he was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre.
  • Between the wars he commanded No.
  • 4 Squadron in England, and No.
  • 3 (Indian) Wing, earning the Distinguished Service Order for operations with the latter in Waziristan.
  • In 1936, he published Air Power and Armies, which examined the use of air power against targets on and behind the battlefield. Slessor held several operational commands in the Second World War.
  • As Air Officer Commanding Coastal Command in 1943 and 1944, he was credited with doing much to turn the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic through his use of long-range bombers against German U-boats.
  • He was knighted in June 1943.
  • In the closing stages of the war he became Commander-in-Chief RAF Mediterranean and Middle East and deputy to Lieutenant General Ira Eaker as Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, conducting operations in the Italian Campaign and Yugoslavia.
  • Slessor went on to serve in the RAF's most senior post, Chief of the Air Staff, in the early 1950s, and was considered a strong proponent of strategic bombing and the nuclear deterrent.
  • In retirement he published two more books, including an autobiography, and held ceremonial appointments in Somerset.

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