Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt

Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Rainey Ludlow-Hewitt (9 June 1886 – 15 August 1973) was a senior Royal Air Force commander.

Early life He was the second son and the second of five children of the Rev. Thomas Arthur Ludlow-Hewitt (17 May 1850 - 16 June 1936) of Clancoole, County Cork and later vicar of Minety, Wiltshire and Edith Annie Hudson (9 March 1854 - 15 November 1944).

First World War Educated at Eastman's School, Radley College and Sandhurst, Ludlow-Hewitt was commissioned into the Royal Irish Rifles in 1905, but transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) before the First World War, where he qualified on 11 September 1914 for the Royal Aero Club's Aviator's Certificate no. 886. During the war he served first as a pilot in No. 1 Squadron Royal Flying Corps and then later as the Officer Commanding No. 15 Squadron and No. 3 Squadron on the Western Front. He spent the remainder of the war as Inspector-General of the RAF and did not retire until November 1945, making him the RAF officer with the longest service as an Air Chief Marshal during the 20th century.