Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Walter Buckingham Caddell (22 September 1879 – 20 April 1944) was a

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

and Royal Air Force officer who served in a number of senior military aviation appointments during World War I. Born on 22 September 1879, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Caddell and his wife Anna Matilda (née Persse), Walter Caddell was to grow up in a large family being the fourth child amongst nine children. He was commissioned a

Second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the Royal Garrison Artillery on 26 May 1900, and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 29 March 1902. In March 1916 Caddell was appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Military Aeronautics at the War Office in London. He effectively served as the chief assistant to Brigadier-General

Duncan MacInnes Duncan MacInnes (1897 – 9 August 1970) was a Scottish Anglican bishop in the 20th century. Biography MacInnes was educated at Edinburgh Theological College and ordained in 1927. He began his ordained ministry with a curacy at St Columba's C ...

, the Director of Aircraft Equipment. It was in that capacity that he was introduced to George Constantinescu who had developed an experimental

synchronization gear A synchronization gear (also known as a gun synchronizer or interrupter gear) was a device enabling a single-engine tractor configuration aircraft to fire its forward-firing armament through the arc of its spinning propeller without bullets strik ...

. With support from the Military Aeronautics Directorate, Constantinescu's synchronization gear was improved and deployed on aircraft in France.

Archibald Low Archibald Montgomery Low (17 October 1888 – 13 September 1956) developed the first powered drone aircraft. He was an English consulting engineer, research physicist and inventor, and author of more than 40 books. Low has been called the "fa ...

and the RFC Experimental Works, Feltham were under his command. In April 1917 Caddell took over from an overworked and exhausted MacInnes as Director of Aircraft Equipment. He retired from the RAF on 28 May 1919 with the honorary rank of brigadier-general.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Caddell, Walter 1879 births 1944 deaths Royal Garrison Artillery officers Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Air Force generals of World War I