Walter Caddell

Brigadier-General Walter Buckingham Caddell (22 September 1879 – 20 April 1944) was a Royal Artillery, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force officer who served in a number of senior military aviation appointments during World War I.

Born on 22 September 1879, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Caddell and his wife Anna Matilda (née Persse), Walter Caddell was to grow up in a large family being the fourth child amongst nine children.[1]

He was commissioned a Second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery on 26 May 1900, and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 29 March 1902.[2]

In March 1916 Caddell was appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Military Aeronautics at the War Office in London. He effectively served as the chief assistant to Brigadier-General Duncan MacInnes, the Director of Aircraft Equipment.[3] It was in that capacity that he was introduced to George Constantinescu who had developed an experimental synchronization gear.[4] With support from the Military Aeronautics Directorate, Constantinescu's synchronization gear was improved and deployed on aircraft in France.[5] Archibald Low and the RFC Experimental Works, Feltham were under his command.[6] In April 1917 Caddell took over from an overworked and exhausted MacInnes as Director of Aircraft Equipment.[5][7] He retired from the RAF on 28 May 1919 with the honorary rank of brigadier-general.[5]

References

  1. ^ "- Person Page 15174". thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  2. ^ "No. 27436". The London Gazette. 23 May 1902. p. 3382.
  3. ^ Brancker, Sefton (1935). Macmillan, Norman (ed.). Sir Sefton Brancker. London: William Heinemann Ltd. p. 115.
  4. ^ Snowden Gamble, Charles Frederick (1928). The story of a North Sea air station. London: Oxford University Press. p. 222.
  5. ^ a b c "W B Caddell_P". rafweb.org. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  6. ^ "The Dawn of the Drone" Steve Mills 2019 Casemate Publishers. page 51
  7. ^ Brancker, Sefton (1935). Macmillan, Norman (ed.). Sir Sefton Brancker. London: William Heinemann Ltd. p. 66.
Military offices
Preceded by Assistant Director of Military Aeronautics
1916-1917 		Succeeded by
Director of Aircraft Equipment
April–December 1917 		Succeeded by