Trenchard, Viscount (1873-1956), was a British military commander. He helped establish the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF), the world’s first air force independent of the army or navy. His work as chief of the British air staff from 1919 to 1929 prepared the RAF for its vital role in World War II (1939-1945).
Hugh Montague Trenchard was born on Feb. 3, 1873, in Taunton, Somerset, England. He entered the Army in 1893. He took an early interest in aviation, and he was appointed an assistant commander of a military flying school in 1913. During World War I (1914-1918), he commanded the Royal Flying Corps in France. He served as commissioner of London’s police from 1931 to 1935. He became a viscount in 1936. Trenchard died on Feb. 10, 1956.
