Air Marshal

Air Marshal

Air marshal is a three-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

 Sir (Alfred) Clifford Sanderson KBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, DFC

Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...

 (19 February 1898 – 28 January 1976) was a British Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 officer who became Air Officer Commanding Far East Air Force.

RAF career

Educated at Dulwich College

Dulwich College

Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...

, Sanderson joined the Royal Flying Corps

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

 in 1916 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He transferred to the newly formed Royal Air Force at the end of the War and was made Officer Commanding No. 19 Squadron in 1931. He was appointed Station Commander at RAF Ramlah in 1938 and served in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters RAF Palestine and Transjordan and then at RAF Mediterranean before becoming Air Officer Administration at Air Headquarters Egypt. He continued his war service as Director of War Organisation and then as Director of Administrative Plans at the Air Ministry

Air Ministry

The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...

. He was seriously injured in an air crash in February 1945.

After the War he was appointed Air Officer Commanding Air Headquarters Burma and then Air Officer Administration at Headquarters Air Command Far East. He went on to be Air Officer Commanding Air Headquarters Malaya in 1948 and Director-General of Personnel at the Air Ministry in 1949. He became Air Officer Commanding Far East Air Force in 1952 before retiring in 1955.