{{Short description|Royal Air Force Air Chief Marshal (1877–1965)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = [[Air Chief Marshal]] | name = Sir John Miles Steel | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB|KBE|CMG}} | image = 1928, Air vice-marshal John Steel - btv1b53241585s (cropped).jpg | caption = John Steel in September 1928. | nickname = | birth_date = {{birth date|1877|09|11|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1965|12|02|1877|09|11|df=yes}} | death_place = | burial_place = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = [[Royal Navy]] (c. 1897–1918)<br/>[[Royal Air Force]] (1918–45) | service_years = 1897–1937<br/>1939–45 | rank = [[Air Chief Marshal]] | unit = | commands = [[RAF Home Command|Reserve Command]] (1939–40)<br/>[[RAF Bomber Command|Bomber Command]] (1936–37)<br/>[[Air Defence of Great Britain]] (1935–36)<br/>[[RAF India]] (1931–35)<br/>Wessex Bombing Area (1926–30)<br/>[[No. 8 Group RAF|No. 8 Group]] (1918)<br/>No. 58 Wing (1918)<br/>[[RNAS Eastchurch]] (1917–18) | battles = [[Second Boer War]]<br/>[[First World War]]<br/>[[Second World War]] | awards = [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>Knight Commander of the [[Order of the British Empire]]<br/>Companion of the [[Order of St Michael and St George]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2)<br/>[[Order of Saint Stanislaus|Order of Saint Stanislaus, 2nd Class with Swords]] (Russia) | relations = | other_work = }} [[Air Chief Marshal]] '''Sir John Miles Steel''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCB|KBE|CMG}} (11 September 1877 – 2 December 1965) was a senior [[Royal Air Force]] commander.
==Military career== Steel attended the [[Britannia Royal Naval College|training ship ''Britannia'']] from 1892 to 1894.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma|title=King's Collections : Archive Catalogues : Military Archives|website=kingscollections.org}}</ref> and subsequently served in the [[Royal Navy]].<ref name=air>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Steel.htm|title=J M Steel_P|website=www.rafweb.org}}</ref> He was promoted to [[sub-lieutenant]] in 1897 and served in the [[Second Boer War]] as a member of the [[Naval Brigade]].<ref name=air/> He was promoted to [[Lieutenant (Royal Navy)|lieutenant]] in 1900, and was posted temporary in July 1902 to {{HMS|St George|1892|6}}, serving in the [[Channel Squadron]].<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=1 July 1902 |page=7 |issue=36808}}</ref> A permanent posting followed in September that year, when he was posted to {{HMS|Royal Sovereign|1891|6}},<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=3 September 1902 |page=4 |issue=36863}}</ref> coast guard ship at [[Portsmouth]]. Promotion to [[Commander (Royal Navy)|commander]] followed in 1912, and to [[Captain (Royal Navy)|captain]] in 1916.<ref name=air/>
In 1917 Steel was transferred from fleet duties to the [[Royal Naval Air Service]] and was appointed Officer Commanding [[RNAS Eastchurch]].<ref name=air/> In early 1918 Steel was appointed Officer Commanding No. 58 Wing which was based at Eastchurch<ref name=air/> and in March, at the age of 40, Steel learned to fly.<ref name=air/> Meanwhile, he became General Officer Commanding [[No. 8 Group RAF|No. 8 Group]].<ref name=air/> On 1 April 1918 the Royal Naval Air Service merged with the [[Royal Flying Corps]] to form the [[Royal Air Force]].<ref name=air/> Steel, like other RNAS personnel transferred to the RAF and was promoted to the temporary rank of [[brigadier general]].<ref name=air/> Promoted to [[group captain]] and then [[air commodore]] in 1919 he was appointed [[Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)|Deputy Chief of the Air Staff]] and Director of Operations and Intelligence and, following his promotion to [[air vice marshal]] in 1925, he was made Air Officer Commanding the Wessex Bombing Area and then Air Officer Commanding [[RAF India]].<ref name=air/> He was promoted to [[air marshal]] in 1932 and appointed Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, [[Air Defence of Great Britain]] in August 1935.<ref name=air/> When [[RAF Bomber Command|Bomber Command]] was created from the Air Defence of Great Britain command in July 1936, Steel became its first Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief in the rank of [[air chief marshal]].<ref name=air/>
==Second World War== In August 1939 Steel came back from retirement to serve as [[Air Officer Commanding]] [[RAF Home Command|Reserve Command]].<ref name=air/> In April 1940 he was succeeded as AOC by [[William Welsh (RAF officer)|William Welsh]] and Steel returned to retirement.<ref name=air/> The following year in April once again returned to active service, this time as the Controller-General of Economy at the [[Air Ministry]].<ref name=air/> He retired for the last time on 26 September 1945.<ref name=air/>
==Family life==
In 1909, Steel married Laura Kathleen Sinclair-Thomson. The marriage took place on 29 July 1909 at St Andrew's, Wells Street, London.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/memoirofltcoledw00steeiala/page/54/mode/2up?q=%22John+Miles+Steel%22 Steel, J. P., ''A memoir of Lt.-col. Edward Anthony Steel, 1800–1919'', p.55.]</ref> According to ''Who’s Who'', Laura Kathleen was a daughter of Dr William Sinclair-Thomson and Jessie Methven, daughter of [[George Addison Cox]]. The couple had three sons and one daughter.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/whoswho19640000blac/page/2892/mode/2up?q=%22Sinclair-Thomson%22 ''Who’s Who'', 1964, p.2892.]</ref> Their daughter, Helen Marjorie Steel, married Niale Shane Trevor Benson in 1939.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/whoswho1951annua00lond/page/220/mode/2up?q=%22Sir+John+Miles+Steel%22 ''Who’s Who'', 1951, p.221.]</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{external media |float = left |width = 300 |image1 =[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw110530/Sir-John-Miles-Steel Sir John Miles Steel by Walter Stoneman] }}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Robert Marsland Groves|Robert Groves]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)|Deputy Chief of the Air Staff]]<br/>and Director of Operations and Intelligence|years=8 September 1919 – 12 April 1926}} {{s-aft|after=[[Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall|Cyril Newall]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Geoffrey Salmond]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Air Officer Commanding]] [[RAF India]]|years=1931–1935}} {{s-aft|after=[[Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt|Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt]]}} |- {{succession box | title=Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief [[Air Defence of Great Britain]] | before=[[Robert Brooke-Popham|Sir Robert Brooke-Popham]] | after=None | years=1935–1936}} {{succession box| title=Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief [[RAF Bomber Command|Bomber Command]]| before=New Creation| after=[[Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt|Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt]]|years=1936–1937}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Christopher Courtney|Sir Christopher Courtney]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief [[RAF Home Command|Reserve Command]]|years=1939–1940}} {{s-aft|after=[[William Welsh (RAF officer)|Sir William Welsh]]}} {{s-end}}
{{RAF generals}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, John Miles}} [[Category:1877 births]] [[Category:1965 deaths]] [[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]] [[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]] [[Category:Royal Navy captains]] [[Category:Royal Air Force generals of World War I]] [[Category:Royal Air Force air chief marshals]] [[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War I]] [[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Second Boer War]] [[Category:Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College]] [[Category:People educated at Stubbington House School]]