Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

Leslie William Cannon, (9 April 1904 – 27 January 1986) 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) an ...

officer. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the

Royal Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

from 1952 to 1955.

Military career

Cannon enlisted in the

(RAF) in the second entry of

aircraft apprentice An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. ...

s in 1920, and was commissioned as a pilot in 1925. From 1948 until late 1949, Cannon was Assistant Commandant and then Commandant of the

RAF Staff College, Andover The RAF Staff College at RAF Andover was the first Royal Air Force staff college to be established. Its role was the training of officers in the administrative, staff and policy aspects of air force matters. History Foundation Following the f ...

. He served as a Flight Commander in

No. 60 Squadron RAF No. 60 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed in 1916 at Gosport. It is currently part of No. 1 Flying Training School based at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire flying the Airbus H135 Juno HT1. The squadron badge is a markhor's head and was app ...

and then

Officer Commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, t ...

No. 5 Squadron RAF Number 5 (Army Co-operation) Squadron (although His Majesty the King awarded No. V (Army Cooperation) Squadron) was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It most recently operated the Raytheon Sentinel R1 Airborne STand-Off Radar (ASTOR) aircraf ...

on the North-West Frontier of India in the 1930s. Eventually attaining the rank of

air vice-marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

(the first apprentice to achieve air rank), he served as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

from 7 May 1951 to 19 June 1955.

References

PAF s' Chief of Air Staffs
, - , - 1904 births 1958 deaths Chiefs of Air Staff, Pakistan Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Pakistan Air Force air marshals Recipients of the Silver Star Royal Air Force air marshals Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Trenchard Brats British expatriates in Pakistan {{Pakistan-mil-bio-stub