Air Chief Marshal Sir James Donald Innes Hardman, GBE, KCB, DFC, was a senior Royal Air Force commander. Born in Lancashire, Hardman joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and was posted to France the following year. He flew Sopwith Dolphins with No. 19 Squadron, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross for his fighting skills. During World War II, he held senior staff and operational posts. He was Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force from 1952 to 1954, after which he served as a member of the British Air Council until retiring in 1958.
About Donald Hardman in brief
Air Chief Marshal Sir James Donald Innes Hardman, GBE, KCB, DFC, was a senior Royal Air Force commander. Born in Lancashire, Hardman joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and was posted to France the following year. He flew Sopwith Dolphins with No. 19 Squadron, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross for his fighting skills. During World War II, he held senior staff and operational posts. He was Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force from 1952 to 1954, after which he served as a member of the British Air Council until retiring in 1958. Hardman was the son of a master cotton-spinner, also named James, and his wife Wilhelmina. He married Dorothy Ursula Ashcroft in 1930, and they had two sons and a daughter. He died of a heart attack at the age of 80 in 1987. He is buried at St George’s Park, near London. He also had a son, James, who died in a car crash in the South East of England in 1994, aged 89. He had a daughter, Dorothy Ursulas Ashcroft, who also served in the Air Force, and a son-in-law, David Ashcroft who served with the Royal Marines in the First World War. He has a son and two step-daughters, both of whom died in the Second World War, and one of whom is still living in the UK.
His great-great-grandson, David Hardman is a politician and a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His grandson, James Hardman-Smith, is a former Member of the House of Lords and former Director of the Public Prosecutions. He served in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and was awarded the OBE for his services to the British Empire in the 1950s. He retired from the RAF in 1958 as air chief marshal and was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. He went on to become the first British Air Force officer to hold the rank of air marshal. His final wartime tally was nine victories, and he was awarded a knighthood for his service in World War I. He later served as Air Member for Supply and Organisation in May 1954, and later as Air Officer Commanding- in-Chief of Home Command, prior to becoming RAAF CAS in January 1952. In 1958 he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of theBritish Empire in January 1958, shortly before his retirement. His son James, also known as Donald, attended Malvern College and later became a teacher at Malvern School. He won the O.B.E. and served with No 31 Squadron in India and No. 216 Squadron in Egypt.
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