AIRMAN GOVERNOR-GENERAL

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 69, 18 October 1940, Page 3

AIRMAN GOVERNOR-GENERAL

Impressions of Sir Cyril Newall

Zealand is to have an airman Governor-General-Marshal of the Air Force Sir Cyril Newall, G.C.B., K.C.B., C.M.G., C.B.E., A.M. When future historians write their considered Opinions on the preserit conflict, his work in building up the vast expansion of the British Air Force will be recognised/as one of the greatest tasks ever achieved by a single individual. For the past three years, working day and night, he has planned and organised and carried to completion the immense air resources of Britain; daily communiqués fill in the graphic results of his achievement. What manner of man has been chosen as His Majesty’s representative in New Zealand? Here is a picture by an officer of the Royal New Zealand Air Force who knew Sir Cyril in Egypt when he commanded the Air Force in the Middle East, a post which had its political as well as its important military aspects: "He is a man of outstanding personality and great personal charm, with exceptional gifts of organisation. He is a great worker, with an amazing capacity for detail without seeking it. When he was in Egypt, from 1931 to 1934, he knew more about the various Air Force units than the men who belonged to them. He always made a point of visiting every unit under his command, spending many hours in the air flying from one to the other. And he always stood up for his men and his staff, Although he was extremely popular with everyone, there was no slackness, and most certainly no inefficiency. Sir Cyril Newall has had more to do with the expansion of the Royal Air Force than any other single individual, for he has seen it through almost from the beginning." He Began with Wood and Wire It might be mentioned that the new Governor-General began his air career in a machine which was mostly wood and wire. That was in 1910 when he took a year’s leave from India so that he could learn to fly, so convinced was he of the future of the air. That machine did not fall to pieces and he gained his pilot’s certificate in 1911, after which he tried to break down Army prejudice against the air, though not with any great success until the war of 1914-18. Sir Cyril is a son of the late Lieut.Colonel William Newall, was educated for the Army, and passed through Sandhurst. At the age of 19 he was commissioned with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He is now 53. In 1922 he married May Dulcie Wendell, but his wife died two years later. He married again, in 1925, Olive Tennyson Foster, daughter of Mrs. Francis Storer Eaton, of Boston, U.S.A. He has one son and two daughters. Lady Newall will be the first American-born "First Lady" to preside over Government House in New Zealand. Sir Cyril is the only officer of high rank to hold the Albert Medal, a distinction usually awarded only for peacatime heroism. When a Royal Flying Re the first time in history New

Corps bomb store, containing 2,000 high explosive bombs, caught fire he played a hose through a hole made by the flames and then led a small party into the building when the bombs threatened to blow everything, including the surrounding district, sky-high. The fire was quenched. That was in 1916 when he was enjoying a rest from France. Sir Cyril was soon in the thick of the fighting when war broke in 1914, As a Flight Commander he went straight to France with the No. 1 Squadron, and in those days air fighting was done with machines which are now museum pieces, By 1915 he was Wing Commander with the 41st Bombing Wing which carried out furious operations against German objectives, so that he knows the political and military effect of bombing behind

the enemy lines. By 1917 he had command of his own squadron and his fame had spread abroad. He emerged from the war with three rows of ribbons on his tunic, including French, Belgian, and Italian decorations, and a permanent post with the newly constituted Royal Air Force. No Stunting The new Governor-General has one pet hate-stunt flyers. When the cadets at Cranwell indulged in this spectacular habit he threatened them with dire penalties and told them: "The general public regards the aeroplane as a nuisance-and I agree with the general public." His passion is work, and a desire to get things done. Long before this war he courageously cut through red tape and, if certain departments delayed him and his plans, he short-circuited them. From 1926 to 1931 Sir Cyril was at the Air Ministry, first as Director of Operations and Intelligence and then as Deputy Chief of Air Staff. After a spell

as commander of the heavy bombers he went to Egypt. Then, in 1934, he ree turned to London for another period at the Air Ministry as Air Member for Supply and Organisation, succeeding Sir Edward Ellington as Chief of the Air Staff in 1937. Though life in New Zealand will be quiet after the excitements of the last three years, he will still be able to indulge his hobbies of fishing and gar~ dening. Sir Cyril and Lady Newall have two homes, a house at Tunbridge Wells, in Surrey, and a flat in Ryder Street, St. James’ Square, London. Since the outbreak of war they have lived at their flat, which is filled with art treasures, Lady Newall, who has a flair for organisation, has been working 12 hours a day on all sorts of national service, travelling periodically to their country home to keep an eye on the comfort of evacuated mothers and children who are installed there.