توماس إلميرست

In April 1912, Elmhirst joined his first ship, HMS Cornwall.^[5] He was commissioned as a midshipman in the Royal Navy in 1913 and was posted to HMS Indomitable in the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron under David Beatty.^[6] When war came he served on HMS Indomitable as the ship took part in the initial bombardment of the Turkish Dardanelles forts and the Battle of Dogger Bank,^[6] where he commanded 'X Gun Turret', the last one to fire at the German ship SMS Blücher before it sank. In 1915 he was selected to be in the first draft of the Royal Naval Air Service where he served until the end of the First World War. He celebrated the armistice by flying an airship (SSZ73) under the Menai Bridge with his friend Gordon Campbell as his passenger. By 1917, he was promoted to flight lieutenant and by March 1918 to major, commanding the Naval Airship Patrol Station on Anglesey in Wales.^[5] He then became part of the newly formed Royal Air Force in 1919.^[6]

Between the wars Elmhirst trialled the first gyroscopic compass for aircraft in the RAF and became Air Attaché to Turkey in the run up to the Second World War.^[6] In January 1940 returned to the Air Ministry as Deputy Director of Intelligence.^[6]

During the Second World War Elmhirst ran the operations room at RAF Uxbridge during the Battle of Britain. He then commanded the Egypt Command Group under Air Marshal Tedder before becoming second-in-command of the Desert Air Force.^[6] He continued in this role through the battle of Alamein until after the Allied invasion of Sicily. He was then second-in-command of British Air Forces in North West Europe until the end of the war,^[6] serving in D-Day, Normandy, the Ardennes and the advance across the France and Germany. Finally he became Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Intelligence) in August 1945.^[6]

في يوليو 1947، ومع اقتراب الهند من الاستقلال، دعا رئيس الوزراء جواهر لال نهرو المارشال الجوي إلميرست ليصبح أول قائد عام للقوات الجوية الملكية الهندية. قبل إلميرست المنصب بشرط أن تُنشأ القوات الجوية الملكية الهندية كخدمة مستقلة تابعة لوزارة الدفاع، وأن يُسمح له باختيار فريق من كبار ضباط سلاح الجو الملكي البريطاني للمساعدة في عملية الانتقال. وافق نهرو على هذه الشروط، وتولى إلميرست القيادة رسميًا في 15 أغسطس 1947. ^{[ 7 ]}

في عام 1953، أشرف إلميرست على عملية توتيم ، وهي أولى التجارب النووية البريطانية البرية في إيمو فيلد ، أستراليا. ^{[ 6 ]} وفي وقت لاحق من العام نفسه، أصبح نائب حاكم غيرنسي ، حيث استقبل الملكة إليزابيث الثانية في جولتها الافتتاحية للجزيرة بصفتها الملكة الجديدة. وشغل هذا المنصب لمدة خمس سنوات، حتى تقاعده عام 1958.