Arthur Barratt

Barratt was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1910 and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1914.[1] He served in the First World War, commanding No. 6 Squadron and then No. 49 Squadron before taking over 3rd (Corps) Wing.[1] After the war he became Assistant Commandant at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell and then Staff Officer for Administration at Headquarters No. 3 Group.[1] He was made Commandant at the School of Army Co-operation in 1926 and Air Staff Officer to the General Officer Commanding Shanghai in April 1927 before joining the Air Staff at Headquarters No. 22 Group in November 1927.[1] He went on to be Chief Instructor at the RAF Staff College, Andover in 1929, Air Officer Commanding No. 1 (Indian) Group in 1931 and Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters RAF India in 1932.[1] After that he was Director of Staff Duties at the Air Ministry in 1935 and then returned to the RAF Staff College, Andover, as Commandant in 1936.[1]

He served in the Second World War as Principal RAF Liaison Officer to the French Air Force and then Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief British Air Forces in France.[1] When he heard that on 14 May 1940, forty of the seventy-one British bombers that had taken off did not return, he is said to have cried.[2] He continued his war service as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Army Co-operation Command in November 1940 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Technical Training Command in 1943.[1] His last appointment was as Inspector-General of the RAF in 1945, in which capacity he took part in the Victory Parade in June 1946[3] before retiring in 1947.[1]