Page 90 - They Also Served

surprisingly flexible during the scramble to rearm as war in Europe loomed. Although a bomber man through and through, he authorised a rapid increase in the number of fighter aircraft and funding for the new Spitfire and Hurricane, which were to prove so crucial in the Battle of Britain.
In the early stages of World War Two, Newall’s major contribution was to block the transfer of several fighter squadrons to France to be squandered in a campaign that was already lost. Again, this ensured that Britain was better prepared to defend against the forthcoming German air assault against Britain. However, no sooner was the Battle of Britain won than Newall was sacked by Churchill, largely on the evidence of a leaked memo citing Newall and others as ‘a weakness in the RAF’. The author later emerged as an air vice-marshal, dissatisfied at having been passed over for promotion.
Newall was promoted to marshal of the RAF in October 1940, the second and last Sandhurst alumnus to reach this rank. He retired soon afterwards. In February 1941, he was appointed governor-general of New Zealand, a post he held for the remainder of the war. Upon his return in 1946, he was created Baron Newall of Clifton-upon- Dunsmore in the County of Warwick. Cyril Newall GCB OM GCMG CBE AM died on 30th November 1963.
84