{{Short description|Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal (1894–1966)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox military person |name= Sir Arthur Barratt |image= Arthur Barratt and Hurricane IWM TR 242.jpg |image_size= 300px |alt= |caption= Air Marshal Barratt in front of a Hurricane which he often used to visit his airfields |nickname= "Ugly" |birth_date= {{birth date|1891|02|25|df=yes}} |birth_place= Peshawar, British India |death_date= {{death date and age|1966|11|04|1891|02|25|df=yes}} |death_place= |burial_place= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= British Army (1910–1918)<br/>Royal Air Force (1918–1947) |service_years= 1910–1947 |rank= Air Chief Marshal |unit= |commands= Inspector-General of the RAF (1945–1947)<br/>Technical Training Command (1943–1945)<br/>Army Cooperation Command (1940–1943)<br/>British Air Forces in France (1940)<br/>RAF Staff College, Andover (1936–1939)<br/>No. 1 (Indian) Group (1931–1932)<br/>School of Army Co-operation (1926–1927)<br/>3rd (Corps) Wing (1917–1919)<br/>No. 49 Squadron (1917)<br/>No. 6 Squadron (1916–1917) |battles= First World War<br/>Second World War |awards= {{nowrap|Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath}}<br/>Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George<br/>Military Cross<br/>Mentioned in Despatches (6)<br/>Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)<br/>Croix de guerre (Belgium)<br/>Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (France)<br/>Croix de guerre (France)<br/>Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland) |relations= |other_work= Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State }} Air Chief Marshal '''Sir Arthur Sheridan Barratt''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCB|CMG|MC|DL}} (25 February 1891 – 4 November 1966) was an officer in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He acquired the nickname "Ugly".
==RAF career== Barratt was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1910 and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1914.<ref name=air>[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Barratt.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Barratt]</ref> He served in the First World War, commanding No. 6 Squadron and then No. 49 Squadron before taking over 3rd (Corps) Wing.<ref name=air/> After the war he became Assistant Commandant at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell and then Staff Officer for Administration at Headquarters No. 3 Group.<ref name=air/> He was made Commandant at the School of Army Co-operation in 1926 and Air Staff Officer to the General Officer Commanding Shanghai in April 1927 before joining the Air Staff at Headquarters No. 22 Group in November 1927.<ref name=air/> He went on to be Chief Instructor at the RAF Staff College, Andover in 1929, Air Officer Commanding No. 1 (Indian) Group in 1931 and Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters RAF India in 1932.<ref name=air/> After that he was Director of Staff Duties at the Air Ministry in 1935 and then returned to the RAF Staff College, Andover, as Commandant in 1936.<ref name=air/>
He served in the Second World War as Principal RAF Liaison Officer to the French Air Force and then Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief British Air Forces in France.<ref name=air/> When he heard that on 14 May 1940, forty of the seventy-one British bombers that had taken off did not return, he is said to have cried.<ref>[http://www.battleofbritainbeacon.org/history/battle-of-france.cfm History of the Battle of Britain: The Battle of France] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100921030407/http://www.battleofbritainbeacon.org/history/battle-of-france.cfm |date=21 September 2010 }}</ref> He continued his war service as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Army Co-operation Command in November 1940 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Technical Training Command in 1943.<ref name=air/> His last appointment was as Inspector-General of the RAF in 1945, in which capacity he took part in the Victory Parade in June 1946<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%201034.html Commanders to participate] Flight International, 23 May 1946</ref> before retiring in 1947.<ref name=air/>
==References== {{reflist|30em}} {{Commons category|Arthur Barratt}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Wilfrid Freeman}} {{s-ttl|title=Commandant of the RAF Staff College, Andover|years=1936–1939}} {{s-vac|reason=Second World War declared}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir John Babington}} {{s-ttl|title=Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Technical Training Command|years=1943–1945}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Ralph Sorley}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt}} {{s-ttl|title=Inspector-General of the RAF |years=1945–1947}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Norman Bottomley}} {{s-court}} {{succession box | before=Sir Lewis Halliday | title=Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State | years=1946–1966 | after=Sir William Stirling}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barratt, Arthur Sheridan}} Category:Royal Air Force air chief marshals Category:1891 births Category:1966 deaths Category:Royal Field Artillery officers Category:People educated at Clifton College Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Recipients of the Military Cross Category:Officers of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Category:British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Category:Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Category:Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta Category:British aviation pioneers Category:Royal Flying Corps officers Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Category:Deputy lieutenants of Hampshire Category:Military personnel of British India Category:Military personnel from Peshawar Category:British Army personnel of World War I