{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} {{Use British English|date=April 2017}} [[Brigadier-General]] '''Walter Buckingham Caddell''' (22 September 1879 – 20 April 1944) was a [[Royal Artillery]], [[Royal Flying Corps]] and [[Royal Air Force]] officer who served in a number of senior military aviation appointments during [[World War I]].
Born on 22 September 1879, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Caddell and his wife Anna Matilda (née Persse), Walter Caddell was to grow up in a large family being the fourth child amongst nine children.<ref name="thepeerage">{{cite web|url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p15174.htm#i151735|title=- Person Page 15174|publisher=thepeerage.com|accessdate=2014-04-02}}</ref>
He was commissioned a [[Second lieutenant]] in the [[Royal Garrison Artillery]] on 26 May 1900, and promoted to the rank of [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|Lieutenant]] on 29 March 1902.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27436|page=3382| date=23 May 1902}}</ref>
In March 1916 Caddell was appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Military Aeronautics at the War Office in London. He effectively served as the chief assistant to Brigadier-General [[Duncan Sayre MacInnes|Duncan MacInnes]], the Director of Aircraft Equipment.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brancker |first=Sefton |authorlink=Sefton Brancker |editor1-last=Macmillan |editor1-first=Norman |year=1935 |title=Sir Sefton Brancker |location=London |publisher=William Heinemann Ltd |page=115 }}</ref> It was in that capacity that he was introduced to [[George Constantinescu]] who had developed an experimental [[synchronization gear]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Snowden Gamble |first=Charles Frederick |year=1928 |title=The story of a North Sea air station |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=222 }}</ref> With support from the Military Aeronautics Directorate, Constantinescu's synchronization gear was improved and deployed on aircraft in France.<ref name="rafweb">{{cite web|url=http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Caddell.htm|title=W B Caddell_P|publisher=rafweb.org|accessdate=2014-02-06}}</ref> [[Archibald Low]] and the RFC [[R.F.C. World War I Drone Weapons|Experimental Works, Feltham]] were under his command.<ref>"The Dawn of the Drone" Steve Mills 2019 Casemate Publishers. page 51</ref> In April 1917 Caddell took over from an overworked and exhausted MacInnes as Director of Aircraft Equipment.<ref name="rafweb"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Brancker |first=Sefton |authorlink=Sefton Brancker |editor1-last=Macmillan |editor1-first=Norman |year=1935 |title=Sir Sefton Brancker |location=London |publisher=William Heinemann Ltd |page=66 }}</ref> He retired from the RAF on 28 May 1919 with the honorary rank of brigadier-general.<ref name="rafweb"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Duncan Sayre MacInnes|D S MacInnes]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Assistant Director of Military Aeronautics|years=1916-1917}} {{s-aft|after=[[James George Weir|J G Weir]]}} |- {{s-ttl|title=Director of Aircraft Equipment|years=April–December 1917}} {{s-aft|after=[[Alfred Huggins|A Huggins]]}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caddell, Walter}} [[Category:1879 births]] [[Category:1944 deaths]] [[Category:Royal Garrison Artillery officers]] [[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]] [[Category:Royal Air Force generals of World War I]]