VICE-REGAL POST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24421, 5 October 1940, Page 10

VICE-REGAL POST

NEW APPOINTMENT SIR CYRIL NEWALL ROYAL AIR FORCE CHIEF (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON. Oct. 4. It is officially announced that the Kin? has approved of the apnointment of Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall. G.C.8., C.M.G., C.8.E., A.M., to be GovernorGeneral of New Zealand in succession to Colonel the Rt. Hon. Viscount Gahvay, P.C., G.C.M.G., D. 5.0., 0.8. E.. whose term of office will expire in February, 1941. His Majesty has also approved the promotion of Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall to be a Marshal of the Royal Air Force. As Chief of the Air Staff and Senior Air Member of-the Council. Marshal Sir Cyril Newall has held since 1937

the key position in directing the enormous organisation of the Royal Air Force. Educated for (he Army, he saw service in India and in the Great War before joining the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. This transfer marked the beginning of a brilliant career in the R.A.F. Grev of head, tight-lipped, and taciturn. Sir Cyril has been described as the model of a gallant airman. He shuns publicity, but more than anything else he dislikes affectation. He is the first representative of the Air Force to be. appointed GovernorGeneral of the Dominion. Decorated for Heroism Sir Cyril was created a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1935, and Knight Grand Cross of the Bath in 1938. His decorations include the Albert Medal (first class), a decoration usually associated with peace-time heroism. On a day in 1916 a fire broke out in a Royal Flying Corps store containing 2000 high-explosive bombs. The key could not be found, and Sir Cyril, with a mechanic, climbed on to the roof and played a hose through a hole burned by the flames. He then led others into the blazing building and completely subdued the fire. A son of the late Lieutenantcolonel William Potter Newall. of the Indian Army, Sir Cyril was born at an Indian hill station on February. 15, 1886. He was educated at Bedford and Sandhurst before entering the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1905. He served in the Zakkha Khel expedition in 1908. winning the medal and clasp, and was transferred to a Gurkha regiment in 1909. Sir Cyril lost his heart to aviation when he went to London on leave in 1911 and saw aeroplanes—flying machines was the popular name then—actually in the air. He spent his leave and all his own money learning to fly, and when he returned, to India he carried with him the Royal Aero Club's certificate No. 144. Sir Cyril was one of the few who foresaw the vast military possibilities of aviation, and in 1914 he resigned from his regiment to join Squadron 101 of the Royal Flying Corps. He has seen at first hand the development of the military aeroplane from a reconnaissance instrument into a deadly war-machine. In 1917 he was given command of the 41st Bombing Squadron based on Nancy, from where devastating raids were made over the Rhineland in retaliation fcr. Zeppelin and aeroplane raids on London. Rapid Advancement Not long after the war he was promoted to the rank cf Air Commodore, and then commenced a series cf appointments which enabled him to obtain a personal knowledge of every aspect of Royal Air Force routine. These appointments included: —Deputy Director of Personnel, Air Ministry. 1919-22; A.D.C. to his Majesty the King, 1923-24; Director of Operations and Intelligence and Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, 1926-31; Air Officer Commanding Wessex Bcmbing Area. 1931; Air Officer Commanding. Royal Air Force. Middle East, 1931-34. In 1935 Sir Cyril was appointed to the Air Council for Supply and Organisation, holding a key position in the drive to bring the R.A.F. up to date. Later, as Air Chief Marshal (1937) he was largely responsible for overcoming the opposition to the use of the balloon barrage. He also demanded the efficient maintenance of the black-out. He was first married in 1922 to Miss May Dulcie Wendell, who died in 1924. In 1925 he married Miss Olive Tennyson Foster, the only daughter of Mrs Francis Storer Eaton, of Boston, United States. They have one son and two daughters.