{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Moresources|date=December 2022}} {{Infobox military person |name= Sir Theodore McEvoy |image= |image_size= |alt= |caption= |nickname= |birth_date= {{birth date|df=yes|1904|11|21}} |birth_place= |death_date= {{death date and age|df=yes|1991|09|19|1904|11|21}} |death_place= |burial_place= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= [[Royal Air Force]] |service_years= 1923–1962 |rank= [[Air chief marshal]] |service_number= |unit= |commands= [[No. 61 Group RAF|No. 61 Group]] (1949–50)<br/>[[RAF Northolt]] (1941)<br/>[[No. 1 Squadron RAF|No. 1 Squadron]] (1935–37) |battles= [[Second World War]] |awards= [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>[[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2)<br/>[[Order of Polonia Restituta|Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta]] (Poland) |relations= [[Christopher McEvoy]] (brother) |other_work= }} [[Air Chief Marshal]] '''Sir Theodore Neuman McEvoy''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCB|CBE}} (21 November 1904 – 19 September 1991) was a senior [[Royal Air Force]] officer who held high command in the 1950s and early 1960s. His last appointment was as [[Air Secretary]].
==RAF career== McEvoy joined the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) as a cadet in 1923.<ref name=air>[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/McEvoy.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Chief Marshal Sir Theodore McEvoy]</ref> He became Officer Commanding [[No. 1 Squadron RAF|No. 1 Squadron]] in 1935 and served in the [[Second World War]] as station commander at [[RAF Northolt]], before moving on to be Group Captain – Operations at Headquarters [[RAF Fighter Command]] in December 1941. This was followed by appointments as Senior Air Staff Officer, first at [[No. 11 Group RAF|No. 11 Group]], then at [[Desert Air Force]], and finally at [[No. 84 Group RAF|No. 84 Group]].<ref name=air/> In 1945 he was appointed Director of Staff Duties at the [[Air Ministry]].<ref name=air/>
After the war McEvoy was appointed Air Officer Commanding [[No. 61 Group RAF|No. 61 Group]] in 1949 and then from 1950 he was Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Training) at the Air Ministry.<ref name=air/> He went on to be RAF Instructor at the [[Imperial Defence College]] from 1954, chief of staff at Headquarters [[Allied Air Forces Central Europe]] from 1956 and [[Air Secretary]] from 1959 before retiring in 1962.<ref name=air/>
In the 1950s he became keen on flying gliders and was President of the RAF Gliding and Soaring Association (RAFGSA). He was instrumental in setting up the RAFGSA centre at RAF Bicester and himself flew cross-country flights from there in gliders. On one of these he landed at RAF Benson and the station commander was about to take action after what he thought was an unauthorised landing when the pilot was revealed as an air chief marshal and he decided to congratulate him instead.
==Later life== In retirement, McEvoy became Chairman of the Society for Italic Handwriting.<ref>[http://www.italic-handwriting.org/magazine/articles/members/sir-theodore-mcevoy The Society for Italic Handwriting – Sir Theodore McEvoy]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80003169 Imperial War Museum Interview]
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=[[Denis Barnett|Sir Denis Barnett]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Air Secretary]]|years=1959–1963}} {{s-aft|after={{nowrap|[[William MacDonald (RAF officer)|Sir William MacDonald]]}}}} {{end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McEvoy, Theodore}} [[Category:1904 births]] [[Category:1991 deaths]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta]] [[Category:Academics of the Royal College of Defence Studies]] [[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]] [[Category:Royal Air Force air chief marshals]] [[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]] {{RAF-bio-stub}}