Air Marshal Sir Hector Douglas McGregor, (15 February 1910 – 11 April 1973) 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 ...

commander.

RAF career

Born in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and educated at

Napier Boys' High School Napier Boys' High School is a secondary boys' school in, Napier, New Zealand. It currently has a school roll of approximately pupils. The school provides education from Year 9 to Year 13. Notable alumni Business * Rod Drury – chief execu ...

,New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum
McGregor joined the Royal Air Force in 1928. He served as a pilot but in 1931 he attended the Aircraft Engineering Course and he subsequently undertook several engineering-related tours.
/ref> He served in

World War II 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 opposing ...

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. 33 Squadron at Heliopolis in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and then at

Lydda Lod ( he, לוד, or fully vocalized ; ar, اللد, al-Lidd or ), also known as Lydda ( grc, Λύδδα), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Sheph ...

in Palestine where he earned the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

for his leadership during policing duties. He went on to be Officer Commanding No. 213 Squadron at

RAF Biggin Hill London Biggin Hill Airport is an operational general aviation airport at Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley, located south-southeast of Central London. The airport was formerly a Royal Air Force station RAF Biggin Hill, and a small ...

in 1940, Station Commander at

RAF Ballyhalbert Royal Air Force Ballyhalbert or more simply RAF Ballyhalbert is a former Royal Air Force station at Ballyhalbert on the Ards Peninsula, County Down, Northern Ireland RAF Kirkistown was a satellite to the larger Ballyhalbert. Construction beg ...

in 1941 and then Senior Air Service Officer at No. 82 Group later the same year before being made Officer Commanding, Tangmere Sector in 1942. He became deputy director, Operations, Intelligence and Plans at Headquarters Mediterranean Air Command in 1943 and Air Officer Commanding

Air Headquarters Levant Air Headquarters Levant (AHQ Levant) was a command of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) established on 1 December 1941, by renaming the command known as H.Q. RAF Palestine and Transjordan. It controlled RAF units in the Mandate of Palestine and ...

in 1944. After the War, he became Air Officer Commanding

No. 2 Group No. 2 Group is a Group (military aviation unit)#United Kingdom, group of the Royal Air Force which was first activated in 1918, served from 1918–20, from 1936 through the Second World War to 1947, from 1948 to 1958, from 1993 to 1996, was react ...

in 1951 before being appointed Director of Guided Missile Development at the Ministry of Supply in 1953. He went on to be Assistant Controller, Aircraft at the Ministry of Supply in 1956, Chief of Staff (Air Defence) at Headquarters

SHAPE A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie ...

in 1957 and Commander-in-Chief of

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, oft ...

in 1959. His last appointment was as Commander-in-Chief of the Far East Air Force in 1962 before he retired in 1964. In retirement, McGregor became Chairman of the New Zealand News Consultative Board in 1964.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McGregor, Hector 1910 births 1973 deaths New Zealand military personnel Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Officers of the Legion of Merit People educated at Napier Boys' High School People from Wairoa Royal Air Force air marshals Mandatory Palestine military personnel of World War II