Air commanders of World War I

The air commanders of World War I were army or navy officers who came to command air services during the first major conflict in which air power played a significant role.

Entente Powers air commanders

British Empire

Australian Flying Corps

1914–1919 – Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Reynolds, General Staff Officer for Aviation, Australian Imperial Force
1918 - Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams, Officer Commanding (Acting) RAF Palestine Brigade

Royal Flying Corps

Director-General of Military Aeronautics

1914–1917 – Lieutenant-General Sir David Henderson
1917–1918 – Major-General John Salmond
1918 – Brigadier-General Edward Ellington

General Officer Commanding the RFC in France

1914–1915 – Major-General Sir David Henderson
1915–1918 – Major-General Hugh Trenchard
1918 – Major-General John Salmond

Royal Naval Air Service

Heads of the RNAS

1914–1915 – Captain Murray Sueter, Director of the Admiralty Air Department
1915–1917 – Rear Admiral Charles Vaughan-Lee, Director of the Admiralty Air Department
1917–1918 – Commodore Godfrey Paine, Fifth Sea Lord and Director of Naval Aviation

Royal Air Force

Chief of the Air Staff

1918 – Major-General Sir Hugh Trenchard
1918 – Major-General Frederick Sykes

France

Director of Military Aeronautics

1914–1915 Brigadier General Auguste Edouard Hirschauer
position vacant
1916 Henry Jacques Regnier

Head of the Service Aéronautique

to December 1916 Colonel Édouard Barès
December 1916 to August 1917 Commandant Paul du Peuty^[1]
August 1917 to __ Colonel Charles Duval

Greece

Hellenic Naval Air Service: Lt Commander Aristeidis Moraitinis (1917–1918)

Imperial Russia

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich,^[2] Field Inspector General of the Imperial Russian Air Service
General Alexander von Kaulbars (Head of Russian Aviation in the Field, 1914-1915)
Colonel Sergey Oulianine (Head of the Directorate of the Air Force, 1917-1918)

Italy

Maurizio Moris, General Director for Aeronautics (1915)
Giovanni Battista Marieni [it] (1915–1917)^[3]
Luigi Bongiovanni (1918–1919)

Romania

General Inspector of Engineering and Aeronautics

1913-1915 - General Mihail Boteanu^[4]

Commander of the RAC

1915-1916; 1918-1920 - Brigadier General Constantin Găvănescu^[4]^[5]^[6]
1916 - Major Gheorghe Rujinschi^[5]
1916-1918 - Major De Malherbe^[7]^[8]

Director of the Aeronautics

1916-1918 - Lieutenant-colonel François de Vergnette de Lamotte [fr]^[7]
1918-1920 - Brigadier General Constantin Găvănescu^[4]^[5]

United States

Chief of Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force in France

30 June 1917 - Lieutenant-Colonel William L. Mitchell
3 September 1917 - Brigadier-General William L. Kenly
27 November 1917 - Brigadier-General Benjamin Foulois
29 May 1918 - Major-General Mason Patrick

Air Commander, Zone of Advance on the American Expeditionary Force in France

Brigadier-General Billy Mitchell

Central Powers air commanders

Germany

Führer der Luftschiffe (Admiral 2nd Class) Peter Strasser, Commander of naval Airships (1915–1918)
Major, later Lieutenant-Colonel and then Colonel, Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen, Chief of Field Air Services (1915–1916), Air Service Chief of Staff (1916–1919)
Lieutenant-General Ernst von Hoeppner, Commanding General of the Air Service (1916–1919)

Inspector of Flying Troops

Colonel Walter von Eberhardt, Inspector of Flying Troops (1913–1914)
Major Richard Roethe, Inspector of Flying Troops (1914–1916)
Major, later Lieutenant-Colonel Wilhelm Siegert, 2nd Staff Officer of Field Air Services (1915–1916), Inspector of Flying Troops (1916–1918)
Captain Wilhelm Haehnelt, Air Commander 5th Army (1915–1916), Air Commander 1st Army (1916–1918), Inspector of Flying Troops (1918–1919)

Austro-Hungarian Empire

Colonel, later Major General Emil Uzelac, Commander of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (1912–1918)
Colonel General Archduke Josef Ferdinand, Inspector General of the Imperial Air Force (1917–1918)

Ottoman Empire

Bulgaria

References

^ "AIR POWER REVIEW Volume 12 Number 1" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
^ Harvey. Collision of Empires: Britain in Three World Wars, 1793–1945. p. 419
^ "Giovanni B. Marieni". Marieni-saredo.it. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c Valeriu Avram (2013). "Din Istoria Aripilor Românești 1910-1916" (PDF). Buletinul Arhivelor Militare Române (in Romanian). No. 61/2013. pp. 2–17.
^ ^a ^b ^c Războiul de întregire (1916-1919) Comandanți militari români (PDF) (in Romanian). Editura Centrului Tehnic-Editorial al Armatei. 2016. ISBN 978-606-524-176-3.
^ "Galeria comandantilor". RoAF (in Romanian).
^ ^a ^b Mihail Orzeață; Valeriu Avram (2018). "Romanian Aviation in the First World War" (PDF). Romanian Military Thinking (3): 206–231.
^ "Istoric". RoAF (in Romanian).

[1] "AIR POWER REVIEW Volume 12 Number 1" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2011-04-08.

[2] Harvey. Collision of Empires: Britain in Three World Wars, 1793–1945. p. 419

[3] "Giovanni B. Marieni". Marieni-saredo.it. Retrieved 2022-03-24.

[buletinul2013-4] Valeriu Avram (2013). "Din Istoria Aripilor Românești 1910-1916" (PDF). Buletinul Arhivelor Militare Române (in Romanian). No. 61/2013. pp. 2–17.

[comandanti-5] Războiul de întregire (1916-1919) Comandanți militari români (PDF) (in Romanian). Editura Centrului Tehnic-Editorial al Armatei. 2016. ISBN 978-606-524-176-3.

[6] "Galeria comandantilor". RoAF (in Romanian).

[aviation-7] Mihail Orzeață; Valeriu Avram (2018). "Romanian Aviation in the First World War" (PDF). Romanian Military Thinking (3): 206–231.

[roaf-8] "Istoric". RoAF (in Romanian).

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v t e Aviation in World War I
People and aircraft	Commanders Aces (accuracy) Aircraft of the Entente Powers Aircraft of the Central Powers Zeppelins
Campaigns and battles	Strategic bombing German Cuxhaven Bombing of cities Aerial reconnaissance Fokker Scourge Zonguldak Flight over Vienna Bloody April Battles
Entente Powers air services	British air services Royal Flying Corps Royal Naval Air Service Royal Air Force Australian Flying Corps Canadian Air Force (1918–1920) French Air Service Imperial Russian Air Service Royal Italian Air Corps Romanian Air Corps United States Army Air Service Greek air services Army Air Service Naval Air Service Japanese air services Imperial Japanese Army Air Service Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
Central Powers air services	Imperial German Air Service Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops Ottoman Aviation Squadrons Bulgarian Army Aeroplane Section