Marshal of the Royal Air Force Marshal of the Royal Air Force (MRAF) is the highest rank in the Royal Air Force (RAF). In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), and to retired Chiefs of the Air Staff (CAS), who were ...

Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford, (21 May 1893 – 22 April 1971) 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 a bomber pilot in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and rose to become first a flight commander and then a squadron commander, flying light bombers on the Western Front. In the early stages of 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 opposi ...

he was commander-in-chief of

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

. He was an advocate of strategic

area bombing In military aviation, area bombardment (or area bombing) is a type of aerial bombardment in which bombs are dropped over the general area of a target. The term "area bombing" came into prominence during World War II. Area bombing is a form of st ...

against German industrial areas, and viewed it as a war winning strategy. In October 1940 he was made Chief of the Air Staff, and remained in this post for the rest of the war. During his time as Chief he continuously supported the

strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...

offensive against Germany, and advocated the formation of the

Pathfinder Force The Pathfinders were target-marking squadrons in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. They located and marked targets with flares, which a main bomber force could aim at, increasing the accuracy of their bombing. The Pathfinders were norma ...

, critical to improving the destructive force of Bomber Command. He fended off attempts by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

to take command over

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

, and resisted attempts by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

to establish their own Army Air Arm. Portal retired from the RAF following the end of the war. He served as Controller of Production (Atomic Energy) at the Ministry of Supply for six years. Portal was then made chairman of

British Aluminium British Aluminium was an aluminium production company. It was originally formed as the British Aluminium Company Ltd on 7 May 1894 and was subsequently known as British Alcan Aluminium plc (1982-1996). History In the late 1880s and early 1890s, ...

. He was unsuccessful in fending off a hostile takeover of British Aluminum by Sir Ivan Stedeford's

Tube Investments TI Group plc (formerly "Tube Investments") was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was registered as ''Tube Investments'' in 1919, combining the seamless steel tube businesses of Tu ...

, in what was known as the "Aluminium War". Afterward he served as chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation.

Early life

Portal was born at Eddington House,

Hungerford Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...

, Berkshire, the son of Edward Robert Portal and his wife Ellinor Kate (née Hill)."Portal, Charles Frederick Algernon."
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.'' Retrieved: 9 July 2012. His younger brother Admiral Sir Reginald Portal (1894–1983) joined the

and also had a distinguished career. The Portals had

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

origins, having arrived in England in the 17th century. He was related to the goldsmith and dramatist

Abraham Portal Abraham Portal (baptised 1726 – 1809) was an English goldsmith and dramatist. Life He was the son of a clergyman, Peter William Portal, of Huguenot origin. He started in life as a goldsmith and jeweller on Ludgate Hill, but lost money both in ...

, and more distantly so to

Wyndham Portal, 1st Viscount Portal Wyndham Raymond Portal, 1st Viscount Portal, (9 April 1885 – 6 May 1949), was a British politician. The eldest son of Sir William Wyndam Portal, 2nd Baronet, and Florence Elizabeth Mary Glyn, daughter of Hon. St Leger Glyn, 2nd son of Geor ...

. Charles Portal, or "Peter" as he was nicknamed, was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

and Christ Church, Oxford. Portal had intended to become a barrister but he did not finish his degree and he left undergraduate life to enlist as a private soldier in 1914.Probert 1991, p. 23.

First World War

At the beginning of the

, Portal joined the

and served as a dispatch rider in the motorcycle section of the Royal Engineers on the Western Front."Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Portal."
''Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation.'' Retrieved: 29 July 2012. Portal was made a

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

very soon after joining the Army and he was commissioned as a second lieutenant only weeks later. Around the same time, Portal was commended in

Sir John French Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, (28 September 1852 – 22 May 1925), known as Sir John French from 1901 to 1916, and as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a senior British Army officer. Born in Kent t ...

's first despatch of September 1914. In December 1914, Portal was given command of all riders in the 1st Corps Headquarters Signals Company. In July 1915, with the need for dispatch riders decreasing, Portal transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). He served first as an observer and then, from November 1915, as a flying officer. He graduated as a pilot in April 1916, and joined No. 60 Squadron flying Morane biplanes on the Western Front. He became a flight commander with No. 3 Squadron flying BE2c aircraft on the Western Front on 16 July 1916. Portal was promoted to temporary major in June 1917 and given command of No. 16 Squadron flying RE8 aircraft on the Western Front at the same time. He was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel on 17 June 1918 and given command of No. 24 (Training) Wing at RAF Grantham in August 1918. Portal was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

in January 1917, 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 ...

(DSO) on 18 July 1917 and a Bar to his DSO on 18 July 1918.

Inter-war

In August 1919 Portal was appointed to a permanent commission in the

in the rank of major (shortly afterwards redesignated as a

squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

). He became a chief flying instructor at the

Royal Air Force College Cranwell The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force military academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and ...

in November 1919 and then attended

RAF Staff College The RAF Staff College may refer to: *RAF Staff College, Andover (active: 1922 to 1940 and 1948 to 1970) *RAF Staff College, Bulstrode Park The RAF Staff College, Bulstrode Park, was a satellite staff college for the Royal Air Force based at Buls ...

in 1922, before joining the air staff conducting flying operations in the home sector in April 1923. Promoted to

wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

on 1 July 1925, he attended the senior officers' war course at the Royal Naval College,

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, in 1926 before taking over No. 7 Squadron flying Vickers Virginia bombers from

RAF Worthy Down RAF Worthy Down was a Royal Air Force station built in 1918, north of Winchester, Hampshire, England. After it was transferred to Royal Navy control in 1939 as RNAS Worthy Down (HMS Kestrel), the airfield remained in use throughout the Second W ...

in March 1927 and concentrated on improving bombing accuracy. Portal attended the

Imperial Defence College The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

in 1929 and became deputy director of Plans in the Directorate of Operations & Intelligence at the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

in December 1930. Promoted to group captain on 1 July 1931, he was appointed commander of British forces in Aden in February 1934, in which role he tried to control the local tribesmen by use of an air blockade. Promoted to air commodore on 1 January 1935, he joined the Directing Staff at the Imperial Defence College in January 1936. Portal was promoted to

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 ...

on 1 July 1937 before being appointed Director of Organization at the Air Ministry on 1 September 1937.

Second World War

Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Kcb, Dso, Mc, Chief of Air Staff 1940-1945 TR3

Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1939

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

, Portal became

Air Member for Personnel The Air Member for Personnel (AMP) is the senior Royal Air Force officer who is responsible for personnel matters and is a member of the Air Force Board. The AMP is in charge of all aspects of recruiting, non-operational flying and ground tr ...

on the Air Council on 1 February 1939. He was promoted to the acting rank of air marshal on 3 September 1939, appointed commander-in-chief of

in April 1940 and promoted to the substantive rank of air marshal on 1 July 1940. Portal advocated strategic

against German industrial areas, the same sort of targets that the Luftwaffe was already targeting in the United Kingdom.Probert 1991, p. 24. He was advanced to

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...

in the

1940 Birthday Honours The 1940 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George VI to Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to ...

. On 25 October 1940, Portal was appointed as Chief of the Air Staff with the temporary rank of air chief marshal (made permanent in April 1942). He continued in this capacity for the remainder of the war. The first issue he had to resolve was an attempt by the

to take over

as well as an attempt by the

to establish their own Army Air Arm.Probert 1991, p. 25. Portal successfully persuaded both the Army and the Navy that the RAF could adequately look after their needs. The second issue Portal had to resolve was the need for a renewed strategic bombing offensive. In August 1941 he received a report on the relative inefficiency of RAF daytime raids and proposals for area bombing by night: to implement the proposals he determined that a new leader was required and replaced the chief of bomber command, Air Chief Marshal

Richard Peirse Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse, (30 September 1892 – 5 August 1970), served as a senior Royal Air Force commander. RAF career The son of Admiral Sir Richard Peirse and his wife Blanche Melville Wemyss-Whittaker, Richard ...

, with Arthur Harris. He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1942 Birthday Honours. Jalta 1945

Portal accompanied Churchill to all the great conferences and made a good impression on Americans. In January 1943, at the

Casablanca Conference The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) or Anfa Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, French Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. In attendance were ...

, the Combined Chiefs of Staff selected him to coordinate the bomber forces of both the United States and Britain in a combined bomber offensive over Germany. The forces were transferred to U.S. General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

for the duration of Operation Overlord; but when their control reverted to the Combined Chiefs, Portal still advocated area bombing of German cities instead of specific targets, such as Axis oil production facilities. "The Logic Behind the Destruction of Dresden."
''Der Spiegel,'' 13 February 2009. Retrieved: 29 July 2012. He was promoted to

on 1 January 1944. In early 1944, Portal's view of strategic bombing changed; he felt that bombers could also play a more auxiliary role in the allied offensive. (Much of what is known about Portal's thinking is based on memoranda he wrote.) He argued for the new approach on the basis of the huge increase in the size of the bomber force, which would carry out not just precision bombing but also indiscriminate

by night of all German cities with populations exceeding 100,000. Portal thought that the resulting damage to the German war effort and civilian morale would lead to victory within six months. A second memorandum in 1945 made a similar argument. In March 1945,

Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

gave the final order to stop Portal's strategy of area bombing, after the firestorm of

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

a few weeks earlier. Churchill subsequently distanced himself from the bombing writing that "the destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied Bombing".

Post-war

In 1945, after the war's end, Portal retired from the RAF and on 12 October 1945 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Portal of Hungerford in the County of Berkshire, with remainder, failing male issue of his own, to his daughters and their male heirs. On 8 February 1946 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount Portal of Hungerford, in the County of Berkshire, with normal remainder to his heirs male. He was made a

Member of the Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Ki ...

on 1 January 1946. He was also awarded the American

Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...

on 15 March 1946 and appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Dutch

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

on 18 November 1947. He was also appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Belgian Order of the Crown with Palm and awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre, 1940, with Palm on 27 August 1948. From 1946 to 1951, Portal was Controller of Production (Atomic Energy) at the Ministry of Supply. Christopher Hinton, responsible for the production of

fissile In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction. By definition, fissile material can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of thermal energy. The predominant neutron energy may be t ...

material, said later, "I cannot remember that he ever did anything that helped us." He attended the funeral of King George VI in February 1952 and the

coronation of Queen Elizabeth II The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive ...

in June 1953. Portal was elected Chairman of

and in 1958/1959 he fought in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

's "Aluminium War" against a hostile takeover bid by Sir Ivan Stedeford, chairman and chief executive of

. T.I. along with its ally

Reynolds Metals Reynolds Group Holdings is a New Zealand based packaging company with roots in the former Reynolds Metals Company, which was the second-largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third-largest in the world. Reynolds Metals was acquire ...

of the US, won the takeover battle, and in the process, rewrote the way the city of London conducted its business in relation to shareholders and investors. Stedeford replaced Portal as Chairman of British Aluminium. In 1960 Portal was elected chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation.Probert 1991, p. 26. Portal died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

at his home at

West Ashling West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

near

Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...

on 22 April 1971. His ashes are buried near his home in Funtington churchyard.

Family

In July 1919, Portal married Joan Margaret Welby (1898–1996); they had a son (who died at birth) and two daughters. The viscountcy died with him but he was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his elder daughter, Rosemary Ann, who died in 1990.

Arms

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Probert, Henry. ''High Commanders of the Royal Air Force.'' London: HMSO, 1991. . * Richards, Denis. ''Portal of Hungerford: The Life of Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Viscount Portal of Hungerford, KG, GCB, OM, DSO, MC.'' London: Heinemann, 1978. .

External links

Spartacus Educational – Charles PortalSir Charles Frederick Algernon Portal Fonds
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