Misplaced Pages

Charles Laverock Lambe

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

Sir Charles Laverock Lambe
Air Vice Marshal Lambe
Born(1875-05-10)10 May 1875
Died25 April 1953(1953-04-25) (aged 77)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchRoyal Navy (1889–1918)
Royal Air Force (1918–31)
Years of service1891–1931
RankAir Vice Marshal
CommandsCoastal Area (1928–31)
RAF Halton (1924–28)
No. 1 School of Technical Training (1924–28)
Midland Area (1919)
No. 5 Group (1918–19)
VII Brigade RAF (1918)
RNAS Dover Command (1916–18)
No. 5 Squadron RNAS (1915)
HMS Hermes (1914–15)
Battles / warsBenin Expedition of 1897
First World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches
Officer of the Legion of Honour (France)
Croix de guerre (France)
Commander of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
Knight of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Croix de guerre (Belgium)
Navy Distinguished Service Medal (United States)

Air Vice Marshal Sir Charles Laverock Lambe, KCB, CMG, DSO (10 May 1875 – 25 April 1953) was a distinguished officer in the Royal Navy and a foundational commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF) on its creation in 1918. Lambe was one of the most senior officers with naval experience to serve in the 1920s RAF.

Biography

Joining the Royal Navy in 1889, Lambe attended the training ship Britannia. In 1897 he was promoted to lieutenant and served aboard HMS Magpie, taking part in Rear Admiral Rawson's punitive expedition to Benin. Lambe later served at the Naval Ordnance Department as an assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes. Promoted to Commander in 1908 he was again appointed an assistant to the Director of Naval Ordnance in 1913.

In August 1914, Lambe was appointed as captain of the seaplane carrier HMS Hermes, which sank after being torpedoed in October of the same year. At the start of August 1916, having just been promoted to wing captain, Lambe took up appointment as the officer commanding the Royal Naval Air Service's Dover Command which included RNAS units at Dunkirk. During his time at the Dover Command, Lambe's aircraft carried out bombing raids on the German submarine harbours at Bruges. On 1 April 1918, Lambe was appointed General Officer Commanding the VII Brigade of the RAF. On 23 April, Lambe's VII Brigade carried out air attacks as part of the blocking of Zeebrugge and Ostend. On 9 May, Lambe was once again the air commander in a naval action, this time for the Second Ostend Raid.

In 1919 Lambe was selected by Sir Hugh Trenchard to sit on the Air Council and in 1924 he was appointed commandant of the RAF's No. 1 School of Technical Training. In 1928 Lambe was appointed Air Officer Commanding Coastal Area (the forerunner of Coastal Command) from where he retired in the rank of air vice marshal in 1931. Lambe died on 25 April 1953.

References

  1. "No. 31691". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 December 1919. p. 15614.
  2. Jellicoe, John, Admiral of the Fleet, 1st Earl Jellicoe (1920). The crisis of the naval war. pp. 72, 73.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. "AIRCRAFT in the ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND BATTLES". Flight. The Royal Aero Club of the U.K. 27 February 1919. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  4. "No. 30870". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 August 1918. p. 10088.

External links

Military offices
Preceded byUnknown Officer Commanding RNAS Dover Command
1916–1918 		Command disbanded
Responsibilities transferred to VII Brigade
VacantTitle last held byTom Webb-Bowen
On 26 March 1918
(Italian operations) 		General Officer Commanding VII Brigade
(Dover and Dunkirk operations)
April – May 1918 		Brigade disbanded
Responsibilities transferred to No. 5 (Operations) Group
Preceded byFrederick Halahan
As Officer Commanding 		General Officer Commanding No. 5 (Operations) Group
1918–1919 		VacantTitle next held byWilliam Callaway
In 1937
As Air Officer Commanding
Preceded byJohn Higgins General Officer Commanding Midland Area
January – February 1919 		Succeeded byBertram Cooke
Preceded byUnknown or none Director of Equipment
1919–1922 		Succeeded byDuncan Pitcher
Preceded byFrancis Scarlett Commandant, No. 1 School of Technical Training
1924–1928 		Succeeded byIan Bonham-Carter
Preceded byFrancis Scarlett Air Officer Commanding Coastal Area
1928–1931 		Succeeded byRobert Clark-Hall
Royal Air Force generals
RAF generals between 1 April 1918 and 31 July 1919
Lieutenant-Generals
Major-Generals
Brigadier-Generals
Categories: