Edward Leonard Ellington

Edward Leonard Ellington

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Leonard Ellington, GCB, CMG, CBE (30 December 1877 – 13 June 1967) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served in World War I as a staff officer and then as Director-General of Military Aeronautics and subsequently as Controller-General of Equipment. In the inter-war years he held command positions in the Middle East, in India and then in Iraq. He served as Chief of the Air Staff in the mid 1930s and in that role he implemented a plan, known as 'Scheme F', to increase the size of the Royal Air Force to 187 squadrons (five bomber squadrons for every two fighter squadrons reflecting the dominance of the bomber strategy at the time) within three years to counter the threat from Hitler's Germany. He also broke up the command known as "Air Defence of Great Britain" to create RAF Fighter Command, RAF Bomber Command, RAF Coastal Command and RAF Training Command. He then served as Inspector-General of the RAF until his retirement in 1940.