Air Officer Commanding, No 12 Group
Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory C.B., D.S.O.

Born in Cheshire, 1892, Leigh-Mallory served with the Territorial Battalion of the King's (Liverpool) Regiment during 1914 and shortly afterwards received a commission in the Lancashire Fusiliers. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 and later became a Major in the Royal Air Force in 1918. He was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.).

In the RAF he rose to the rank of Squadron Leader before joining the School of Army Co-operation in 1921, which he later commanded. After service at the Air Ministry and overseas he was given command of No: 12 Group in 1937. During the Battle of Britain he campaigned hard with the War Cabinet to adopt his “Big Wing” tactics that created divisions between himself and Air Vice-Marshal Park along with Dowding. In 1942 he moved to No: 11 Group, promoted to Air Marshal and appointed Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Fighter Command.

In 1944 Leigh-Mallory, as Air Commander-in-Chief, South-East Asia Command, was killed with his wife when the plane they were travelling in crashed.