Military Wiki
Military Wiki
Air Council in session WWII IWM CH 966

Air Council in session at the Air Ministry in July 1940.

The Secretary of State for Air was a cabinet level British position. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. It was created on 10 January 1919 to manage the Royal Air Force. On 1 April 1964, the Air Ministry was incorporated into the Ministry of Defence and the position of Secretary of State for Air was abolished.

Chairmen of the Joint War Air Committee, 1916[]

Name Entered office Left office
The Earl of Derby February 1916 February 1916[1]

Presidents of the Air Board, 1916-1917[]

Name Entered office Left office
The Earl Curzon of Kedleston 15 May 1916 3 January 1917
The Viscount Cowdray 3 January 1917 26 November 1917

Presidents of the Air Council, 1917-1919[]

Name Entered office Left office
The Lord Rothermere 26 November 1917 26 April 1918
The Lord Weir 26 April 1918 10 January 1919
J. E. B. Seely January 1919 November 1919[2]

Secretaries of State for Air, 1919-1964[]

Name Entered office Left office
Winston Churchill[3] 10 January 1919 1 April 1921
Hon. Frederick Guest 1 April 1921 19 October 1922
Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt 31 October 1922 22 January 1924
The Lord Thomson 22 January 1924 3 November 1924
Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt. 6 November 1924 4 June 1929
The Lord Thomson 7 June 1929 5 October 1930[4]
The Lord Amulree 14 October 1930 5 November 1931
The Marquess of Londonderry 5 November 1931 7 June 1935
The Viscount Swinton 7 June 1935 16 May 1938
Sir Kingsley Wood 16 May 1938 3 April 1940
Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt 3 April 1940 11 May 1940
Sir Archibald Sinclair, Bt 11 May 1940 23 May 1945
Harold Macmillan 25 May 1945 26 July 1945
The Viscount Stansgate 3 August 1945 4 October 1946
Philip Noel-Baker 4 October 1946 7 October 1947
Arthur Henderson 7 October 1947 26 October 1951
The Lord De L'Isle and Dudley 31 October 1951 20 December 1955
Nigel Birch 20 December 1955 16 January 1957
Hon. George Ward 16 January 1957 28 October 1960
Julian Amery 28 October 1960 16 July 1962
Hon. Hugh Fraser 16 July 1962 1 April 1964

Notes[]

  1. Resigned.
  2. Resigned.
  3. Also Secretary of State for War.
  4. Killed in the Airship R101 disaster.

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Secretary of State for Air and the edit history here.