Charles Longcroft: Difference between revisions

[[Air Vice Marshal]] '''Sir Charles Alexander Holcombe Longcroft''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCB|CMG|DSO|AFC}} (13 May 1883 – 20 February 1958) was a pilot and squadron commander in the [[Royal Flying Corps]] who went on to become a senior commander in the [[Royal Air Force]]. He was the first commandant of the [[RAF College, Cranwell]].

Charles Alexander Holcombe Longcroft was born on 13 May 1883 in [[Ceredigion|Cardiganshire]], [[Wales]], the third of four children born to Charles Edward Longcroft (1842–1892) and his wife, Catherine Alicia Holcombe. The Longcrofts had originated in [[Wiltshire]] but first rose to prominence as merchants in [[Hampshire]] in the 18th century. Charles' somewhat distinguished great-grandfather, Captain Edward Longcroft RN (c.1750–1812), had settled in Wales in the mid-1780s after returning from a lengthy period of service in the West Indies during the American War of Independence. Charles' father inherited the Llanina estate in 1888 but after his death only four years later the estate passed in trust to his nine-year-old son.<ref Thename=evans>Phillips-Evans, entire history of the Longcroft family is recorded inJ. ''The Longcrofts: 500 Years of a British Family'' by James Phillips-Evans (Amazon, 2012), pp. 381–384</ref>

Charles Longcroft was educated at [[Charterhouse School|Charterhouse]], attended the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], before May 1903 and was then commissioned into the [[Welch Regiment]]. After obtaining his [[Royal Aero Club]] certificate in March 1912, Longcroft was attached to the [[Air Battalion]] of the [[Royal Engineers]] at his request. With the establishment of the [[Royal Flying Corps]] in the following month, he was seconded to the new Corps.<ref name=wales>{{cite web|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-founder-raf-you-probably-14482511|title=The Welsh founder of the RAF you have probably never heard of|date=2 April 2018|publisher=Wales Online|accessdate=7 July 2019}}</ref>

By 1914, Longcroft had been promoted to [[Major (rank)|major]] and was appointed Officer Commanding [[No. 1 Squadron RFC]]. For the next year and a half, apart from a brief period as a supernumerary, Longcroft was the squadron commander of either No. 1 Squadron or [[No. 4 Squadron RFC]]. During the period 1915 to 1918, he was promoted several times and had command of the RFC's Training Wing, 2nd Wing, V Brigade and Training Division. Longcroft finished the war as General Officer Commanding the 3rd Brigade.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/raf-caps/air-land-integration-in-the-100-days-the-case-of-third-army-52888c93ce6e|title=Air/Land Integration in the 100 Days: The Case of Third Army|date=27 September 2018|publisher=RAF Centre for Air and Space Power Studies|accessdate=7 July 2019}}</ref>

With the establishment of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, Longcroft transferred to the new service on a temporary basis. In However,March just1919 overhe asucceeded year[[Philip laterGame]] as commander of South-West Area.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31433|page=8392|date=4 July 1919}}</ref> onOn 1 August 1919, he resigned his commission in the Welch Regiment and was awarded a permanent RAF commission in the rank of [[group captain]]. Just four days later he was promoted to [[air commodore]].<ref name=wales/>

On 1 November 1919, Longcroft was appointed as the first commandant of the world's first air academy, the [[RAF (Cadet) College]] at Cranwell. The first intake of cadets arrived on the following February and his post was upgraded to [[Air Officer Commanding]] RAF Cranwell.<ref Longcroftname=senior>{{cite continuedweb|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Royal%20Air%20Force%20Senior%20Appointments.pdf|title=Senior asRAF Appointments|accessdate=7 July 2019}}</ref> He became Director-General of Personal Services in 1923 and Air Officer Commanding, untilInland 1923Area andin he1926 retiredbefore retiring from the RAF at his own request on 2 November 1929.<ref name=senior/>

On 27 April 1921 he married the widowed Marjory Hepburn, née McKerrell-Brown, and together they had a son, Charles McKerrell Longcroft, who was born in 1926.<ref name=evans/>

From 1932, Charles A. H. Longcroft was appointed [[Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod]] of the [[Order of the Bath]], before being appointed Registrar and Secretary of the Order of the Bath in 1948. CharlesHe was appointed [[Order of the Bath|Knight of the Order of the Bath]] in 1938.<ref Air Vice Marshal Sir Charles Alexander Holcombe name=evans/>

Longcroft died in London on 20 February 1958. His widow, Lady Longcroft, died in 1964.<ref>Phillips-Evans, J. ''The Longcrofts: 500 Years of a British Family'' (Amazon, 2012), pp. 381–384<name=evans/ref>

{{s-ttl|title=Brigadier-General Commanding [[III Brigade RAF ]]|years=April–December 1918}}

[[Category:1883Military birthspersonnel from Ceredigion]]