Hugh Pughe Lloyd

Sir Hugh Lloyd
Air Vice Marshal Lloyd, AOC Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Forces, stands beside the Bristol Beaufighter in which he flew to Britain, 18 March 1944
Born	12 December 1894 Leigh, Worcestershire
Died	14 July 1981
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1915–1953
Rank	Air Chief Marshal
Commands	No. 9 Squadron RAF Marham Malta Northwest African Coastal Air Force Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force Tiger Force Far East Air Force Bomber Command
Battles / wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Military Cross Distinguished Flying Cross

Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Pughe Lloyd GBE, KCB, MC, DFC, RAF (12 December 1894 – 14 July 1981) was a senior Royal Air Force commander.

RAF career

Lloyd joined the Royal Engineers as a sapper in 1915 during World War I: he was wounded in action three times before enlisting as a cadet in the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and joining No 52 Squadron, flying the RE.8 on army co-operation missions. After the war, he remained with the RFC (which became the Royal Air Force in 1918) on a permanent commission.

In January 1939 he became Officer Commanding No. 9 Squadron, equipped with Wellingtons. Later in 1939, with World War II under way, he was promoted to Group Captain and given command of RAF Marham. His stay at RAF Marham was brief and in November 1939 he was appointed to the staff of No. 3 Group and, in May 1940, he became Senior Air Staff Officer at No. 2 Group.

On 1 June 1941, he was appointed Air Officer Commanding in Malta, with the difficult task of protecting the island from German and Italian air attacks as well as attacking Axis shipping delivering supplies to Rommel's Afrika Korps in North Africa. However, his lack of knowledge of fighter tactics and the dominance of the Messerschmitt Bf 109F against the outdated Hawker Hurricane, prolonged the Siege of Malta. When Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring was appointed to lead the Axis air-offensive from December 1940, RAF Command at last reacted. After installing a fighter control room similar to those in the UK, from April 1942 they assigned the island two squadrons of Supermarine Spitfires totaling 47 aircraft, which led later that year to the Allies moving to an offensive campaign.

He was assigned to RAF headquarters in the Middle East as Senior Air Staff Officer in 1942 and commanded the Northwest African Coastal Air Force and then the Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force in 1943. His role there was to carry out harrying of enemy transport by land and sea. In February 1945 he began planning and eventually took command of Tiger Force, a Commonwealth heavy bomber force which was intended to join the air offensive against Japan but was disbanded shortly after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki effectively ended the war.

Postwar years

After two years as senior instructor at the Imperial Defence College, he was made Air Officer Commanding Air Command Far East, later retitled Far East Air Force. He was made Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Bomber Command in February 1950 before he retired in June 1953.

Lloyd was President of the London Welsh Trust, which runs the London Welsh Centre, from 1962 until 1964.

Honours and awards

• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire - 1 June 1953 (KBE - 31 July 1942, CBE - 24 September 1941)
• Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath - 7 June 1951 (CB - 1 January 1942)
• Military Cross - 22 June 1918
• Distinguished Flying Cross - 8 February 1919
• Mentioned in Despatches - 8 May 1936
• Croix de Guerre with Palm and Star (France) - 21 September 1918
• Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) - 1944
• Officer of the Legion of Merit (United States) - 11 April 1944
• Hon Doctor of Law (University of Wales)

References

• Lloyd, Sir Hugh, Briefed to attack: Malta's Part in African Victory (Hodder & Stoughton, 1949) (which inspired the film Malta Story)