Trafford Leigh-Mallory

Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory KCB, DSO and Bar (11 July 1892 - 14 November 1944) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force in World War II and the highest-ranking British officer to die in the war.

Death and legacy

In August 1944, with the Battle of Normandy almost over, Leigh-Mallory was appointed Air Commander-in-Chief of South East Asia Command (SEAC). But before he could take up his post he was killed en route to Burma when the aircraft he was travelling in crashed into the French Alps. All on board, including his wife, died. The subsequent Court of Inquiry found that the accident was a consequence of bad weather and may have been avoided if Leigh-Mallory hadn't insisted the flight fly in such poor conditions. By a quirk of fate, Leigh-Mallory's replacement at SEAC was his Battle of Britain rival Air Marshal Sir Keith Park.

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Leigh-Mallory has never ranked in the public imagination as one of the great captains of World War II. There are a number of reasons for this. His reputation has been hurt by partisan attacks from supporters of Dowding and Park in the post war debate over the Big Wing controversy. Some historians have cast Leigh-Mallory in the villain's role as a conniver and he has been the subject of personal attacks describing his pomposity, arrogance and ambition. This is at odds with the memories of those who worked with him, who described his loyalty, generosity, energy, organisation and openness to new ideas. Sadly, he never survived the war to defend himself or write his memoirs and so it was left to others, such as Douglas Bader, to speak for him.

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A further problem with Leigh-Mallory's legacy was that he was never in the 'right' job. He commanded Fighter Command at a time when it was suffering great casualties as a result of learning new tactics and when its fighters were too short-ranged to do any real offensive work. He also commanded the D-Day air effort in a thankless, unwanted but vital role for which others took the most credit.

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