William Dickson (RAF officer)

Sir William Forster Dickson
Dickson sitting down to afternoon tea while attending a conference at the Tactical Headquarters of the 8th Army, near Venafro, Italy.
Born	(1898-09-24)24 September 1898 Northwood, Middlesex
Died	12 September 1987(1987-09-12) (aged 88) RAF Hospital, Wroughton
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy (1916–18) Royal Air Force (1918–59)
Years of service	1916–59
Rank	Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Commands held	Chief of the Defence Staff (1956–59) Chief of the Air Staff (1953–55) RAF Mediterranean & Middle East (1948–50) Desert Air Force (1944) No. 83 Group (1943–44) No. 10 Group (1942–43) No. 9 (Fighter) Group (1942) No. 25 Squadron (1935–36)
Battles/wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order Air Force Cross Mentioned in Despatches (3) Order of Suvorov (Soviet Union) Legion of Merit (United States)
Other work	Master of The Glass Sellers' Company

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Forster Dickson, GCB, KBE, DSO, AFC (24 September 1898 – 12 September 1987) was a Royal Naval Air Service aviator during the First World War, a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the inter-war years and a Royal Air Force commander during and after the Second World War. Dickson was Chief of the Air Staff in the mid-1950s, in which role his main preoccupation was the establishment of the V Force and the necessary supporting weapons, airfields and personnel. He also served as the first Chief of the Defence Staff in the late 1950s.

Born on 24 September 1898 in Northwood, Middlesex, the son of Campbell Cameron Forster Dickson, a lawyer at the Royal Courts of Justice, and Agnes Dickson (née Nelson-Ward and a direct descendant of Lord Nelson) Dickson was educated both at Bowden House in the Sussex town of Seaford and at Haileybury College.

Dickson joined the Royal Naval Air Service on 8 October 1916, and, after completing flying training, served as a pilot at RNAS Grain on the Isle of Grain. From August 1917 he was a pilot on HMS Furious, where he carried out pioneering work, performing deck landings and taking part in the first raid from an aircraft carrier in history. He was mentioned in despatches on 1 October 1917. Transferring to the Royal Air Force on its creation, he was promoted to captain in the flying branch on 7 October 1918 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 21 September 1918. Dickson spent the last few weeks of the War on HMS Revenge, having been posted there in October 1918, before taking up duties on HMS Queen Elizabeth in April 1919. He was mentioned in despatches again on 1 January 1919 and received a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force on 1 August 1919.