Air Marshal Sir Melvin Kenneth Drowley Porter, (12 November 1912 – 28 March 2003) was a senior

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

Maintenance Command Maintenance Command is a command of the Indian Air Force. It was raised as Maintenance Group at Chakeri in Kanpur in 1950. In 1955, it was designated as Maintenance Command. Its current headquarters is located at Vayusena Nagar in Nagpur (Mahar ...

from 1966 until his retirement in 1970.

RAF career

Porter joined the Royal Air Force in 1928. He was appointed Chief Signals Officer at Headquarters

RAF Balloon Command Balloon Command was the Royal Air Force command which was responsible for controlling all the United Kingdom-based barrage balloon units during the Second World War. History Prior to the establishment of Balloon Command, a balloon group was b ...

in 1939 and served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as Chief Signals Officer at No. 11 Group, then No. 83 Group followed by

Second Tactical Air Force The RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forces, ...

just when air support was needed for the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

.Obituary: Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Porter
The Times, 20 May 2003 After the war he joined the Directing Staff at the RAF Staff College, Andover and then, from 1950, became Senior Technical Staff Officer at Headquarters No. 205 Group. He went on to be Officer Commanding at No. 2 Air Signallers School in 1952 and Officer Commanding at No. 1 Air Signallers School in 1953 before returning to the role of Chief Signals Officer at Headquarters

in 1954. He became Chief Signals Officer at Headquarters Fighter Command in 1955, Commandant at No. 4 School of Technical Training in 1959 and Director General of Ground Training at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in 1961.Debrett's People of Today 1994 His last appointments were as Director-General of Signals (Air) at the Ministry of Defence in 1963 and as Air Officer Commanding

in 1966 before retiring in 1970. In retirement he became Director of Technical Education Projects at University College, Cardiff.

Family

In 1940 he married Elena Sinclair: they had two sons and one daughter.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Kenneth 1912 births 2003 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Officers of the Legion of Merit Royal Air Force air marshals Royal Air Force personnel of World War II