Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...

Sir Denis Hensley Fulton Barnett, (11 February 1906 – 31 December 1992) was a squadron commander and senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. In the post war years he held high command, serving as the British air commander during the Suez War and subsequently the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Transport Command and the Commander of British Forces Cyprus. Barnett was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, his parents being Sir Louis Barnett and Mabel Violet Barnett née Fulton (daughter of

Catherine Fulton Catherine Henrietta Elliot Fulton (née Valpy, 19 December 1829 – 6 May 1919) was a New Zealand diarist, community leader, philanthropist, social reformer and suffragist. She was a founding member of the Dunedin chapter of Women's Christi ...

and James Fulton). He had three elder brothers, including Miles Barnett, and an older sister. He married Pamela Grant (21 December 1918 - 30 August 2010) on 22 April 1939, and they went on to have three daughters and one son.

RAF career

The New Zealander Barnett was commissioned into the Royal Air Force in 1929.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He was appointed Officer Commanding No. 84 Squadron in 1938 and then served in the Second World War taking charge of No. 40 Squadron in June 1940.Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Chief Marshal Sir Denis Barnett
/ref> He joined the Air Staff at Headquarters Bomber Command in 1941 and then became Station Commander at RAF Swanton Morley in 1942. He returned to Bomber Command in June 1943 taking on the roles of Deputy Director of Operations, then Senior Air Staff Officer and finally Director of Operations. After the war he joined the Air Staff in India and then became Commandant of the Central Bomber Establishment in 1949 before becoming Director of Operations at the Air Ministry in 1950. He became UK Representative at the United Nations Command Headquarters in Tokyo in 1952, Air Officer Commanding No. 205 Group in 1954 and Commandant of the RAF Staff College, Bracknell, in 1956. With the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

unfolding in Autumn 1956, he became Commander of the Allied Air Task Force for Operation ''Musketeer'' and ordered to carry out the bombing Egyptian airfields in order to achieve

air superiority Aerial supremacy (also air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of c ...

. He returned to the UK as

Air Secretary The Air Secretary and Chief of Staff, Personnel is the Royal Air Force officer with responsibility for appointments, promotions, postings, and discipline of high ranking members of the British air force. From 1978 to 1983 the Air Secretary was ...

in 1957. His final appointments were as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Transport Command in 1959 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Near East Air Force (including responsibility for British Forces Cyprus and Administration of the Sovereign Base Areas) in 1962
/ref> before retiring in 1964. In retirement he became Board Member for Weapons Research & Development at the Atomic Energy Authority.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnett, Denis Hensley Fulton 1906 births 1992 deaths Royal Air Force air marshals British military personnel of the Suez Crisis Commanders of the Legion of Merit Commanders of the Legion of Honour New Zealand recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France)