Air Power in War

Life and Career of Arthur William Tedder

Life and Career of Arthur William Tedder Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder, G.C.B. (1890– 1967), was born at Glenguin (now Glengoyne), a distillery about twenty miles north of Glasgow on July 11, 1890. He was the youngest of three children to Arthur John Tedder, an excise and revenue official, and Emily Charlotte Bryson Tedder. Frequent moves caused by his father’s excise duties ensured a varied upbringing for Tedder: the family lived in Lerwick in the Shetlands and Elgin, near the Moray coast of Scotland. From 1902–09 he attended the Whitgift School, Croydon, south London. He excelled in military exercises with the Officers’ Training Corps (O.T.C.), becoming a crack shot. A natural navigator, he learned to read the stars easily. Tedder’s talents then flourished at Magdalene College, Cambridge, from 1909–13; he was encouraged by his tutors to study German at an institute in Berlin during the summer, then return to school to prepare for a diplomatic career. Tedder abandoned his diplomatic prospects in 1913, and an academic career did not appeal either. He accepted a position as a Colonial Office cadet in Fiji and left England in February 1914. He was soon unhappy with his post and prospects; however, the outbreak of war cleared his path. Eager to join the regular army, he resigned and returned to England in December. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Dorsetshire regiment in January 1915, Tedder joined the 3rd Reserve Battalion at Wyke Regis, near Weymouth. A serious knee injury in February held him in Wyke until July, then at a base 2 introduction camp in Calais until October. There he sought a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps (R.F.C.). In January 1916 when he was fully mobile again, the R.F.C. accepted Tedder, and his progress was astonishing. Promoted to captain in March, he was taught to fly in April, and joined the 25th Squadron—a unit equipped with the FE2b, a two-seater with its engine placed behind the crew—on the western front in June. On June 21 he wrote to his wife that an anti-aircraft gun ”put a shrapnel bullet through the nacelle of my aircraft, in one side and out the other, cutting one of the petrol pipes and passing down between my legs. Petrol came pouring out in a continuous stream over my right foot.” Fortunately, flames did not appear and a career that had barely begun did not end. Appointed flight commander in August,Tedder was promoted to major in command of 70 Squadron for six months from January 1917. His new squadron flew the Sopwith 1½ Strutter, the RFCR.F.C.’s first aircraft with a machinegun firing through the propeller arc and the observer seated behind the pilot. Although he was an excellent navigator and a competent pilotwiththe25Squadron,flyingincombataswellascarrying out reconnaissance, photography, escort, and bombing tasks, Tedder’s main strength was on the ground with 70 Squadron when his duties prevented him from flying regularly. Older than most pilots and more thoroughly educated, he was able to shift paper swiftly and thereby pacify higher command.He also had the calm temperament and good humor needed to see men through the many periods of heavy casualties. Hugh Trenchard, head of the R.F.C. in France, and a man who made or marred numerous careers, noticed him favorably; so too did Wilfrid Freeman, an officer who later helped Tedder into high command and sustained him there. In July 1917 at Shawbury in Shropshire, Tedder had his first taste of the tasks in which he later specialized:large-scale 3 introduction training in air fighting, gunnery, and artillery observation. In May 1918 he was sent to Cairo to organize similar training, but his ship was torpedoed upon leaving Marseilles. He was rescued by a Japanese destroyer—a distinction, he claimed, unmatched by any other senior British officer. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in July 1918, he adroitly handled discontent over demobilization problems at the end of the war. He returned to England in March 1919, rejected an offer to resume his Colonial Office career in April, was granted a permanent commission as a squadron leader in August, and took command of the 207 Squadron at Bircham Newton, Norfolk, in February 1920. By September 1922 when the Chanak crisis (a Turkish challenge to British control of the Dardanelles) threatened to escalate into war, Tedder...