Leslie Norman Hollinghurst

Air Chief Marshal Sir Leslie Norman Hollinghurst GBE, KCB, DFC (1895 - 1971), was a British First World War Flying Ace who later became an Air Chief Marshal in the RAF.

Hollinghurst was born in Muswell Hill, Middlesex, England on 2 January1895, and was the second of three children of Charles Herbert Hollinghurst and Teresa Patty.

Involvement in the First World War

At the outbreak of the war in 1914, Hollinghurst enlisted with the Royal Engineers participating in the Gallipoli landings and was wounded at Salonika. In 1916 he was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment, and later in the same year was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps. He learned to fly while serving in Egypt and went on to become a Captain in No. 87 Squadron RAF flying Sopwith Dolphins, and was awarded the DFC in October 1918, having destroyed four enemy aircraft. Leslie's two siblings also served: Charles Stanley Hollinghurst was also in the RFC and was awarded the Military Cross and Distinguished Conduct Medal, while Phyliis Hollinghurst enlisted in the Women's Royal Air Force.

Interwar service

In 1919 Hollinghurst was given a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force. He served in India and China, and was awarded the OBE in 1932. On return to the united Kingdom in 1935 he became a member of staff of the RAF Staff College and was promoted to the rank of Group Captain with a position at the Air Ministry in 1939.

econd World War

Hollinghurst was appointed Director General of Organisation for the RAF in 1940 and was promoted to the rank of Air Commodore in 1941, and acting Air Vice Marshal in the following year. in 1943 he was given command of 9 Group RAF. Later in the year he was given command of 38 Group, formed to transport airborne troops in the forthcoming Normandy Landings. Hollinghurst was on board the first pathfinder aircraft to leave for Europe on the evening of June 5, 1944. 38 group were later involved in Operation Market Garden, for which Hollinghurst was awarded United States Distinguished Flying Cross. Later in 1944 he was appointed commanding officer of air bases in south east Asia.

Post war

Returning to the UK in 1945, Hollinghurst became an air member of the General Staff, and received substansive rank as Air Vice Marshal in 1946. He was Inspector-General of the Royal Air Force in 1948 - 49, and was again a member of the General Staff from 1949 - 1952. He was promoted to Air Chief Marshal in 1950, and retired in 1952. Following his retirement he was twice called upon to produce reports on technical aspects of the RAF.

Hollinghurst died on June 8, 1971, having collapsed on his journey back from a commemoration of the Normandy Landings. ["Sir Leslie Hollinghurst", The Times, June 12, 1971, p.16]

References

* [http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Hollinghurst.htm Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - Air Chief Marshal Sir Leslie Hollinghurst]
*cite web |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31247 |title=Hollinghurst, Sir Leslie Norman (1895–1971) |accessdate=2008-08-10 |author=E B Haslam |date=2004 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press