Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford

The Viscount Portal of Hungerford
Portrait photograph of Portal taken at the Air Ministry in London.
Nickname	Peter
Born	21 May 1893 Hungerford, England
Died	22 April 1971
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1914–1945
Rank	Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Commands held	16 Squadron 24 Wing 7 Squadron British Forces Aden RAF Bomber Command (1940) Chief of the Air Staff (1940–1945)
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight of the Order of the Garter Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Order of Merit Distinguished Service Order & Bar Military Cross Distinguished Service Medal (United States)

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford KG GCB OM DSO & Bar MC (21 May 1893 – 22 April 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force officer and an advocate of strategic bombing. He was the British Chief of the Air Staff during most of the Second World War.

Early life

Portal was born at Eddington House, Hungerford, England, the son of Edward Robert Portal and his wife Ellinor Kate (née Hill). His younger brother Admiral Sir Reginald Portal (1894–1983) joined the Royal Navy, becoming a naval aviator in the Fleet Air Arm, holding three aviation-related flag appointments between 1943 and 1951. The Portals had Huguenot origins, having arrived in England in the 17th century.^[1] Charles Portal, or "Peter" as he was nicknamed, was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford where he read law. 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.^[2]

First World War

At the beginning of First World War, Portal joined the British Army and served as a dispatch rider in the motorcycle section of the Royal Engineers on the Western Front.^[3] Portal was made a corporal very soon after joining the Army and he was commissioned as a second lieutenant only weeks later.^[2] Around the same time he was commended in Sir John French's first despatch of September 1914. In December 1914 Portal was given command of all riders in the 1st Corps Headquarters Signals Company.

In 1915, with the need for dispatch riders reducing, Portal transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.^[2] He graduated as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in April 1916, and joined No. 60 Squadron.^[3] He served first as an observer and eventually a flying officer. In June 1917 he was promoted temporary Major and given command of No. 16 Squadron,^[3] and in June 1918 he was promoted to temporary Lieutenant-Colonel and given command of No. 24 Wing.^[3] He earned the Distinguished Service Order in 1917, with a Bar in 1918, and the Military Cross.^[4] In April 1918 he became an officer in the new Royal Air Force, following the Royal Flying Corps' merger with the Royal Naval Air Service. In July 1919 he was appointed to a permanent commission in the rank of Major (shortly afterwards Squadron Leader).^[3]

Inter-war years

After the war, Portal took over No. 7 Squadron RAF^[3] and concentrated on improving bombing accuracy. He was promoted Group Captain in 1931.^[3] In February 1934 he was appointed commander of British forces in Aden,^[3] where he tried to control the local tribesmen by air power.

In January 1935 he was promoted to air commodore and in July 1937 to air vice marshal, when he was appointed Director of Organization in the Air Ministry.^[5] Just prior to outbreak of the Second World War, he was ordered to establish 30 new air bases in Britain.

Second World War

In early 1939 Portal was appointed Air Member for Personnel on the Air Council.^[6] At the outbreak of the war in September he was made acting air marshal and in April 1940 commander-in-chief of Bomber Command.^[3]

Portal advocated strategic area bombing against German industrial areas instead of bombing of specific factories or plants. He gave the first order to bomb Berlin on August 25, 1940. The result was that Hermann Göring ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb London instead of British airfields. The Blitz had begun. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was impressed with Portal's strategy and Portal was knighted in July 1940.^[3]

In October 1940, Portal was appointed as Chief of the Air Staff with the rank of air chief marshal.^[3] This ultimate appointment within the RAF advanced Portal over a number of air officers who had greater seniority. He continued in this capacity for the remainder of the war, being the youngest of the Chiefs of Staff until the arrival of Lord Mountbatten.^[3]

He immediately became involved with the controversy over the Big Wing that resulted in Hugh Dowding's removal as the head of RAF Fighter Command. He concentrated on improving bomber navigation systems and bombing aids and increasing the power of the bombs themselves. He strongly supported the scientific intelligence work of R. V. Jones and others.^[7] In August 1941 he received a report of the relative inefficiency of RAF daytime raids and proposed area bombing by night. To implement his directive he replaced the chief of bomber command, Air Chief Marshal Richard Peirse, with Arthur Harris.^[8]

The Yalta Conference. Portal is shown standing behind Churchill.

Portal accompanied Churchill to all the conferences and made a good impression on Americans. In January 1943, at the Casablanca Conference, 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 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.^[9]

In June 1944 Portal was promoted to Marshal of the Royal Air Force and in February 1945 he was one of the senior commanders present at the Yalta Conference. 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 area bombing 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.^[9]

In March 1945 Churchill gave the final order to stop Portal's strategy of area bombing, after the firestorm of Dresden 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".^[10]

Post-war

In 1945, after the war's end, Portal retired from the RAF and on 17 September 1945 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Portal of Hungerford, of Hungerford in the County of Berkshire, with remainder, failing male issue of his own, to his daughters and their male heirs.^[11] On 28 January 1946 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount Portal of Hungerford, of Hungerford in the County of Berkshire, with normal remainder to his heirs male.^[12][13] From 1946 to 1951 he was Controller of Production (Atomic Energy) at the Ministry of Supply.^[14]

He was elected Chairman of British Aluminium and in 1958/9 he fought in the City of London's "Aluminium War" against a hostile takeover bid by Sir Ivan Stedeford, Chairman & CEO of Tube Investments. T.I. along with its ally Reynolds Metals 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.^[15]

Family

Lord Portal of Hungerford married Joan Margaret Welby, daughter of Sir Charles Glynne Earle Welby, 5th Baronet, in 1919. They had two daughters, Rosemary Ann (1923–1990) and Mavis Elizabeth Alouette. A son died at birth in 1921. Lord Portal of Hungerford died at West Ashling House on 22 April 1971, aged 77. The viscountcy died with him while he was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his eldest daughter, Rosemary, 2nd Baroness Portal of Hungerford. The barony became extinct on her death in 1990.

Honours and awards

• Viscount - 1 Jan 1946 (Conferred - 8 Feb 1946)
• Baron - 17 Aug 1945 (Conferred - 12 Oct 1945
• Knight of the Order of the Garter - 3 Dec 1946
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath - 11 Jun 1942 (KCB - 11 Jul 1940, CB - 2 Jan 1939)
• Order of Merit - 1 Jan 1946
• Distinguished Service Order - 18 Jul 1917, Bar - 26 Jul 1918
• Military Cross - 10 Jan 1917
• Mentioned in Despatches - 19 Oct 1914, 9 Dec 1914), 11 Dec 1917, 31 Dec 1918,
• Polonia Restituta 1st Class (Poland) - 15 Jul 1941
• Grand Cross of the Order of St Olav (Norway) - 18 Dec 1942
• Order of the White Lion 1st Class (Czechoslovakia) - 12 Jan 1943
• Distinguished Service Medal (United States) - 15 Mar 1946
• Officer of the Royal Order of George I (with swords) (Greece) - 6 Sep 1946
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) - 18 Nov 1947
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion (Netherlands)
• Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown with Palm (Belgium) - 27 Aug 1948
• Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palms (Belgium) - 27 Aug 1948
• Grand Commandeur of the Legion of Honour (France)
• War Cross (Czechoslovakia)
• LL.D.
• Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex - 27 Apr 1951

References

Notes

1. ^ Richards 1978, pp. 6–11.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Probert, p. 23
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Portal
4. ^ Burke's Peerage.
5. ^ London Gazette: no. 34432. p. 5561. September 3, 1937. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
6. ^ London Gazette: no. 34594. p. 689. January 31, 1939. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
7. ^ R. V. Jones (1978) Most Secret War
8. ^ Probert, p. 25
9. ^ ^{a b} Portal expands bombing operations
10. ^ British Bombing Strategy in World War Two BBC
11. ^ London Gazette: no. 37305. p. 5026. 12 October 1945.
12. ^ London Gazette: no. 37461. p. 864. 8 February 1946.
13. ^ Burke's Peerage.
14. ^ "Development of Atomic Energy in Britain." Nature 157, February 2, 1946, pp. 128–128. Retrieved: March 8, 2009.
15. ^ Probert, p. 26

Bibliography

• Probert, H. High Commanders of the Royal Air Force. London: HMSO, 1991. ISBN 0-11-772635-4.
• 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. ISBN 0-43462-825-5.

External links

• Spartacus Educational - Charles Portal
• thePeerage.com - Air Marshal Sir Charles Frederick Algernon Portal
• Sir Charles Frederick Algernon Portal Fonds

Military offices
Preceded by O T Boyd	Officer Commanding Aden Command Air Officer Commanding from 1 January 1935 1934–1935	Succeeded by E L Gossage
Preceded by W L Welsh	Director of Organisation 1 September 1937 – 1 February 1939	Succeeded by D G Donald
Preceded by Sir William Mitchell	Air Member for Personnel 1939–1940	Succeeded by Sir Leslie Gossage
Preceded by Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt	Commander-in-Chief Bomber Command 1940–1940	Succeeded by Sir Richard Peirse
Preceded by Sir Cyril Newall	Chief of the Air Staff 1940–1946	Succeeded by Sir Arthur Tedder
Government offices
New office	Controller of Production (Atomic Energy) Controller Atomic Energy from 1950 1946–1951	Succeeded by Sir Frederick Morgan
Business positions
Preceded by Unknown	Chairman of British Aluminium 1953–1958	Succeeded by Sir Ivan Stedeford
New title Corporation formed	Chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation 1960–1963	Succeeded by Sir George Edwards
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Viscount Portal of Hungerford 1946–1971	Extinct
	Baron Portal of Hungerford 1945–1971	Succeeded by Rosemary Ann Portal

Persondata
Name	Portal, Charles Portal, Viscount
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 21, 1893
Place of birth	Hungerford, England
Date of death	April 22, 1971
Place of death