Sir Leslie Oswald Brown KCB

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

DSC DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

AFC (11 July 1893 – 28 June 1978) was a South African who served with the

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 ...

(RAF) in both World Wars, 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 u ...

. Brown served in East Africa, the Middle East and the United Kingdom. His first years were with the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

, before that was absorbed into the newly formed RAF. He commanded 84 Group as a temporary Air Vice Marshal during the allied advance across north west Europe, assigned to support the

First Canadian Army The First Canadian Army (french: 1reArmée canadienne) was a field army and a formation of the Canadian Army in World War II in which most Canadian elements serving in North-West Europe were assigned. It served on the Western Front from July 1944 ...

's operations. His staff established extremely close operational contacts with their army opposite numbers, but this was not to the liking of his superior, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham and he was replaced in November, 1944. He was appointed Commandant of the

School of Land/Air Warfare The School of Land/Air Warfare was a Royal Air Force school based at Old Sarum in Wiltshire. Its purpose was to encourage greater co-operation between officers in the air and those on the ground. History The School was originally established at ...

later in 1944 and reverted to his substantive rank of Air Commodore. Brown was promoted to Air Vice Marshal in October 1946, retired from the RAF on 23 January 1949 and died on 28 June 1978.

References

External links

1893 births 1978 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross Royal Air Force air marshals of World War II Alumni of Hilton College (South Africa) {{RAF-bio-stub