Portal, Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount

▪ British air marshal

born May 21, 1893, Hungerford, Berkshire, England

died April 23, 1971, Chichester, Sussex

      British air marshal and chief of the British Air Staff during World War II.

      Portal was educated at Winchester and Christ Church College, Oxford, and joined the Royal Engineers as a dispatch rider during World War I; in 1915 he was commissioned in the Royal Flying Corps. He distinguished himself as a fighter pilot by shooting down several enemy aircraft, and for this he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Bar and the Military Cross. Between the wars his posts in the Royal Air Force (Royal Air Force, The) (RAF) included those of commander of the British forces at Aden (now in Yemen), instructor at the Imperial Defence College, and director of organization and air member for personnel at the Air Ministry.

      For a short time in 1940 he held the appointment of air officer commander in chief at Bomber Command. Soon after, he became chief of the air staff, the highest post in the RAF, which he held with great distinction until 1945. In addition to his duties at the Air Ministry, directing the policy and operations of the RAF, he took a prominent part in all the important Allied conferences as a member of the Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee. He was created a baron in 1945, and in 1946 he became 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford. From 1946 to 1951 Lord Portal was responsible for administering the atomic research facilities at Harwell.

Additional Reading

Denis Richards, Portal of Hungerford (1977), is a biography.

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