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Sir Walter Lloyd Dawson
Born (1902-05-06)May 6, 1902
Died 1994
Allegiance Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Ensign of the Royal Air Force Royal Air Force
Years of service 1919 - 1960
Rank Air Chief Marshal
Commands held Air Headquarters Levant
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order

Air Chief Marshal Sir Walter Lloyd Dawson KCB CBE DSO RAF (6 May 1902 – 1994) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force in the 1950s. He was the last RAF commander in Palestine, before the creation of the State of Israel.

RAF career[]

Dawson joined the Royal Air Force as a boy mechanic in 1919.[1] He served in World War II on the air staff at RAF Middle East and then in the Directorate of Plans at the Air Ministry.[1] He continued his war service as Station Commander at RAF St Eval from 1942, Director of Operations (Naval Co-operation) from 1943 and Director of Plans from 1944.[1] After the War he was made Air Officer Commanding AHQ Levant at a difficult time when the State of Israel was being established.[1] He was appointed Commandant of the School of Land/Air Warfare in 1948 and then served as Senior RAF Instructor at the Imperial Defence College from 1950 before becoming Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Policy) in 1952.[1] He went on to be Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans & Policy at Headquarters SHAPE in 1953, Inspector-General of the RAF in 1956 and Air Member for Supply and Organisation in 1958 before he retired in 1960.[1]

He died in 1994.[2] Dawson's Field in Jordan, where the Dawson's Field hijackings took place is named after him.[1]

References[]

Military offices
Preceded by
H D McGregor
Air Officer Commanding Air Headquarters Levant
1946 – 1948
Vacant
Title next held by
C D C Boyce
In 1955, headquartered in Iraq
Preceded by
Sir Leslie Brown
Commandant of the School of Land/Air Warfare
1948 – 1949
Succeeded by
L F Pendred
Preceded by
R Ivelaw-Chapman
Senior RAF Instructor at the Imperial Defence College
1950 – 1951
Succeeded by
C B R Pelly
Preceded by
Sir Charles Guest
Inspector-General of the RAF
1956 – 1958
Succeeded by
Sir Gilbert Nicholetts
Preceded by
Sir Donald Hardman
Air Member for Supply and Organisation
1958 – 1960
Succeeded by
Sir Walter Merton
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 Walter Dawson (RAF officer) and the edit history here.
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