William Elliott

Air Chief Marshal Sir William Elliot, (3 June 1896 – 27 June 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force commander.

RAF career

Educated at Tonbridge School in the United Kingdom, Elliot joined the Army Service Corps in 1915 and then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917.

On 30 July 1919 Elliot, then a captain, crashed behind enemy lines while fighting the Bolshevik forces during the North Russia Intervention. Another plane crewed by Lt John Mitchell and Captain Walter Anderson landed and picked up Elliot and flew him and his observer back to the base. He was appointed Officer Commanding No. 501 Squadron in 1932 before becoming Assistant Secretary to Committee of Imperial Defence in 1937 and being made Assistant Secretary of the War Cabinet Secretariat in 1939. Sir William and Lady Elliot had a daughter, Louise, and a son, Simon. In 1970, Louise married Stephen Simmons Halsey, an American corporate executive with American Express; over the course of their lives they have resided in New York City, Paris, Hong Kong, Hawaii, and Oregon. In 1972, Simon married Annabel, the daughter of Bruce Shand and sister of Queen Camilla.