John Slessor

Who was John Slessor?

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Cotesworth "Jack" Slessor GCB, DSO, MC was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force, 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 Wing, earning the Distinguished Service Order for operations with the latter in Waziristan. In 1936, he published Air Power and Armies, examining of 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 start winning the Battle of the Atlantic" by his use of long-range bombers against German U-boats. He was knighted in June 1943.