Alec Coryton

Sir William Alec Coryton

Air Commodore Coryton c.1940
Born (1895-02-16)16 February 1895
Pentillie, Pillaton
Died 20 October 1981(1981-10-20) (aged 86)
Langton Matravers
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  British Army (1914–18)
 Royal Air Force (1918–51)
Years of service 1914–1951
Rank Air Chief Marshal
Commands held AHQ Burma (1945)
Third Tactical Air Force (1944)
No. 5 Group (1942–43)
No. 16 Squadron (1925–28)
Battles/wars First World War
Second World War
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Member of the Royal Victorian Order
Distinguished Flying Cross
Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (France)
Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)

Air Chief Marshal Sir William Alec Coryton KCB, KBE, MVO, DFC (16 February 1895 – 20 October 1981), known as Alec Coryton, was a senior Royal Air Force commander in the Second World War.

Life

Originally commissioned as an officer into the British Army's Rifle Brigade (Special Reserve), Coryton transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a lieutenant in 1918. When the RFC became the Royal Air Force, he resigned his Army commission and became a Royal Air Force officer.

From 1925 to 1928, he was Officer Commanding 16 Squadron, based at Old Sarum, Wiltshire, operating the Bristol F.2 Fighter in the tactical reconnaissance role.

On 25 April 1942 he became Air Officer Commanding No. 5 Group RAF. It has been claimed that the then Air Commodore Coryton was sacked by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris for refusing to send a small force of Lancasters from his group on a sneak raid to Berlin in poor weather conditions.

In February 1943 Coryton moved to the Air Staff at the Air Ministry and was appointed Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Operations) in 1944.

On 25 August 1944 he became Commander, RAF Third Tactical Air Force.

References

External links

Military offices
Preceded by
John Slessor
Air Officer Commanding No. 5 Group
1942–1943
Succeeded by
Ralph Cochrane
Preceded by
Jack Baldwin
Air Officer Commanding Third Tactical Air Force
Post downgraded to AOC HQ RAF Bengal and Burma on 4 December 1944
Post renamed AOC HQ RAF Burma on 1 June 1945

1944–1947
Post disestablished
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