Hugh Dowding & Fighter Command
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This stamp artwork is for the 17p stamp in a set from 1986 celebrating the history of the Royal Air Force. It shows Lord Dowding with Fighter Command’s ‘workhorse’, the Hawker Hurricane.
Hugh Dowding joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1913 and later became commander of 16 Squadron. He joined the new Royal Air Force after the First World War and by 1929 was promoted to Air Vice Marshall.
Dowding was widowed early in marriage and threw himself into his career, whilst raising his son Derek, who later became an officer under Dowding in RAF Fighter Command. Despite his reserved manner (he was nicknamed ‘Stuffy’), he had a fatherly relationship with the officers of Fighter Command, referring to them as his ‘chicks’.
His most important achivement was the 'Dowding System' - an integrated air defence system of radar, raid plotting and radio communication with aircraft. He also introduced modern aircraft into service such as the eight-gun Spitfire and Hurricane.
Dowding was due to retire in June 1939, but was asked to stay on until March 1940 because of the tense international situation. He flirted with retirement again but remained in post until October 1940. The inscription on his statue outside St Clement Danes church in London tells us that:
"In the preliminary stages of that war, he thoroughly trained his minimal forces and conserved them against strong political pressure to disperse and misuse them. His wise and prudent judgement and leadership helped to ensure victory against overwhelming odds and thus prevented the loss of the Battle of Britain and probably the whole war. To him, the people of Britain and of the Free World owe largely the way of life and the liberties they enjoy today."
Despite his successes and the award of a peerage, internal conflicts over tactics soured his relationship with the RAF after the war.
The other stamps in the set show Lord Tedder with a Hawker Typhoon, Lord Trenchard and the De Havilland DH9A, Sir Arthur Harris and Avro Lancaster bomber, and Lord Portal with the De Havilland DH98 Mosquito. The artwork is by B Sanders.
