{{Short description|Royal Air Force Air Commodore (1877-1944)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox military person |name= Duncan le Geyt Pitcher |image= Duncan le Geyt Pitcher (crop).png |caption= Pitcher during the First World War |nickname= |birth_date= {{Birth date|1877|08|31|df=yes}} |birth_place= [[Nainital|Naini Tal]], [[East Indies]]<ref name="Census1881" /> |death_date= {{Death date and age|1944|09|01|1877|08|31|df=yes}} |death_place= [[Uxbridge]], London, England |burial_place= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= [[British Army]] (1898–1918)<br/>[[Royal Air Force]] (1918–29) |service_years= 1898–1929 |rank= [[Air Commodore]] |unit= |commands= [[No. 22 Group RAF|No. 22 Group]] (1926–29)<br/>[[No. 7 Group RAF|No. 7 Group]] (1925–26)<br/>1st Brigade RFC (1916–17, 1918)<br/>[[Central Flying School]] (1915–16) |battles= [[First World War]] |awards= [[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George]]<br/>[[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]<br/>[[Distinguished Service Order]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2)<br/>[[Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus|Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]] (Italy)<br/>[[Legion of Honour|Officer of the Legion of Honour]] (France) |relations= |other_work= }} [[Air Commodore]] '''Duncan le Geyt Pitcher''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CMG|CBE|DSO}} (31 August 1877 – 1 September 1944) was an infantry and cavalry officer in the [[British Indian Army]]. During the [[First World War]] he served in the [[Royal Flying Corps]] and in his later years became a senior commander in the [[Royal Air Force]].
==Early years== Pitcher was born in [[Nainital|Naini Tal]] in [[Uttarakhand]] (then called the [[East Indies]]), the son of Major Duncan Pitcher and his wife Rose.<ref name="Census1881">[[Census in the United Kingdom|1881 Census of Hendon]], RG11/1367, Folio 91, Page 58, Duncan L G Pitcher, Age: 3, Where born: Naini Tal, East Indies, Address: 8 Edgware Road, Rockhall Terrace, Hendon, Middlesex.</ref> His father was on active service with the [[Bengal Staff Corps]] of the [[British Indian Army]]. At the time of the 1881 Census the family are living in [[Hendon]], North London.<ref name="Census1881" /> In the 1891 Census Pitcher is a 13-year-old scholar at the [[Sedbergh School]] in Yorkshire.<ref name="Census1891b">[[Census in the United Kingdom|1881 Census of Sedbergh]], RG12/3489, Folio 25, Page 5, Duncan Leuguy Pitcher, Age: 13, Where born: Lucknow, India, Address: School House Towers, Sedbergh, Yorkshire.</ref>
Pitcher was commissioned into the [[British Army]] as a [[second lieutenant]] in [[The South Wales Borderers]] on 16 February 1898, and promoted to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] on 10 January 1900.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27179 |page=2198 |date=3 April 1900}}</ref>
==Military aviation== Pitcher was sent from India to the [[Central Flying School]] in Great Britain in order to learn how to fly and gain the requisite knowledge to set up a flying school in India. The [[World War I|European War]] broke out before he could return to India and Pitcher became involved in military aviation in Europe.
Pitcher attended the Central Flying School as a pilot under training in 1913 and once he had completed his course, he remained on the staff until the summer of 1914 when he was attached to [[No. 4 Squadron RAF|No 4. Squadron RFC]]. He returned to the Central Flying School, probably in late 1914 and was appointed Officer In-charge of Transport. Immediately following the New Year of 1915, Pitcher took up instructional duties before being appointed a squadron commander at the Central Flying School in late January. In April 1915 he was appointed Assistant Commandant at the Central Flying School in which capacity he served until mid November 1915. Pitcher then spent around a month as a Royal Flying Corps wing commander before returning to the Central Flying School as its Commandant when Godfrey Paine returned to naval duties at [[RAF Cranwell|Cranwell]].
The 1 April 1916 saw Pitcher promoted and appointed [[Brigadier-General]] Commanding the I Brigade. In 1915 he recommended [[Archibald Low|A. M. Low]] in WWI for work on the [[R.F.C. World War I Drone Weapons|radio control systems]] for unmanned [[History of unmanned aerial vehicles|‘Aerial Target']] aircraft and then in 1918, for the remote control [[Coastal Motor Boat|Distance Control Boats]].<ref>"The Dawn of the Drone" Steve Mills 2019 Casemate Publishers. page 221</ref>
In 1921 Duncan was the best man at his old RFC colleague [[Robert Loraine]]’s wedding.<ref>"The Life of Robert Loraine: The Stage, the Sky, and George Bernard Shaw” Lanayre D. Liggera page 172</ref> Loraine had a great deal in common with [[Reginald Denny (actor)|Reginald Denny]], a younger British actor/airman. They had been in a West End production together in 1902 in London,<ref name="Mills">"The Dawn of the Drone"" Steve Mills 2019 Casemate Publishers. page 219</ref> they were both veterans of the RFC (and its successor, the [[Royal Air Force]]) and were both flying and making films in Hollywood in the 1930s. Each of them visited their close relatives in the same area of London. Loraine knew both Duncan, his best man, the Air-Commodore who had been in charge of the RFC radio control weapons that led to the first powered military drone aircraft <ref>[https://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/aircraft/de-havilland-dh82b-queen-bee/ The Queen Bee]</ref> and Denny, a fellow actor who became interested in [[History of unmanned aerial vehicles|radio controlled aircraft]] and started the first [[Radioplane OQ-2|US military drone]] work at the start of WWII.
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Pitcher.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Commodore D le G Pitcher]
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Godfrey Paine]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Commandant of the [[Central Flying School]]|years=1915–1916}} {{s-aft|after=[[Charles Burke (British Army officer)|Charles Burke]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Edward Ashmore (British Army officer)|Edward Ashmore]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Brigadier-General Commanding [[I Brigade RFC]]| years=1916–1917}} {{s-aft|after=[[Gordon Strachey Shephard|Gordon Shephard]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Cuthbert MacLean]]<br><small>Temporary appointment, preceded by:</small><br>[[Gordon Strachey Shephard|Gordon Shephard]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Brigadier-General Commanding [[I Brigade RFC]]| years=January – December 1918}} {{s-non|reason=Brigade disbanded<br/>End of the First World War}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Arthur Longmore]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Air Officer Commanding]] [[No. 7 Group RAF|No. 7 Group]]|years=1925–1926}} {{s-vac|next=[[Ralph Cochrane]]}} |- {{s-vac|last=[[Edward Masterman]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Air Officer Commanding [[No. 22 Group RAF|No. 22 Group]]|years=1926–1929}} {{s-aft|after=[[Norman MacEwen]]}} {{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitcher, Duncan}} [[Category:1877 births]] [[Category:1944 deaths]] [[Category:People from Nainital]] [[Category:British Army generals of World War I]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]] [[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]] [[Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour]] [[Category:People educated at Sedbergh School]] [[Category:Royal Air Force generals of World War I]] [[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]] [[Category:Indian Army cavalry generals of World War I]]