Scorned champion, or missed opportunity? Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh‐Mallory Commander‐in‐Chief, allied expeditionary air force, Normandy, 1944

Abstract

Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh‐Mallory was in charge of the D‐Day Air effort in support of Operation OVERLORD with over 10000 aircraft assembled. Yet there is no popular memory of this man who commanded the largest air armada in history. In this article Air Commodore Day questions this lack of celebration and knowledge of the commander of this important operation. The fact that Leigh‐Mallory died in an aircrash in November 1944 meant that he was never able to write down his experiences of D‐Day. During the preparations for D‐Day a change in emphasis resulted in a transfer of supreme command from Air Chief Marshal Tedder, Deputy Supreme Commander, to Eisenhower. Leigh‐Mallory was never again given any authority over the strategic bombers; they remained the exclusive preserve of Tedder. In retrospect it is difficult to determine exactly what Leigh‐Mallory did achieve as a commander, mostly due to an exception‐ ally contorted command chain—deliberately blurred to preclude Leigh‐Mallory. Air Commodore Day concludes that although Leigh‐ Mallory was no Normandy champion, history has not been entirely fair on his reputation.