Air League
{{Short description|British aviation organisation}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{infobox organization
|name = The Air League
|image =
|size = 170px
|formation = {{start date and age|1909|02|17|df=yes}}
|type = UK Registered Charity
|registration_id = 1129969
|headquarters = 4 Hamilton Place, London, United Kingdom
|region_served = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
|website = {{URL|www.airleague.co.uk}}
|leader_title= Former Patron
|leader_name = The Late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1952-2021)
|leader_title2= President
|leader_name2 = Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper
|leader_title3= Chairman
|leader_name3 = John Steel KC}}
The Air League is an aviation and aerospace non-profit organisation based in the United Kingdom.{{cite web |url=http://www.airleague.co.uk/al/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Air-League-Trust-2011-accounts.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=15 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316034525/http://www.airleague.co.uk/al/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Air-League-Trust-2011-accounts.pdf |archive-date=16 March 2014 |url-status=dead }} It is the UK's largest provider of aviation and aerospace scholarships and bursaries.
The Air League aims to inspire, enable, and support the next generation of aviation and aerospace professionals from all backgrounds across the UK. Each year thousands of people from around the UK, including disadvantaged youngsters and wounded and injured servicemen and women benefit from Air League support.
History
Founded in 1909 as "The Aerial League of The British Empire", The Air League was formed to counter 'the backwardness and apathy' shown by the UK in the face of emerging aeronautical developments and to stress the 'vital importance from a commercial and national defence point of view of this new means of communication'.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
The founders of the Air League were concerned that Britain was falling behind other nations in the development of its aviation capability. They foresaw the threats, both military and commercial, to the country's future wellbeing if aviation was not made central to government thinking. When the First World War broke out five years later, Britain was taking aviation sufficiently seriously to be able to develop and produce aircraft that could hold their own in the rapidly evolving scramble for air superiority.{{cite web|url=http://www.kenleyairshow.co.uk/history/the-air-league |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624122538/http://kenleyairshow.co.uk/history/the-air-league |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 June 2013 |title=History of The Air League |publisher=Kenleyairshow.co.uk |access-date=26 May 2014 }}
In 1938 The Air League founded the Air Defence Cadet Corps, which is now the Air Training Corps.
Presidents
- Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood, (1945–1947)
- Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferté (1947–1954)
- Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood (1954–1956)
- Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso (1956–1958){{cite web|url=http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/item_single.php?item_id=17&item=biography |title=Biography of Viscount Thurso Archibald Sinclair |publisher=Liberalhistory.org.uk |access-date=26 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528010044/http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/item_single.php?item_id=17&item=biography |archive-date=28 May 2014 }}
- Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton (1959–1968){{cite web|url=https://spartacus-educational.com/GERhamilton.htm |title=Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, the 14th Duke of Hamilton |publisher=Spartacus-Educational.com |access-date=26 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525163947/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhamilton.htm |archive-date=25 May 2013 }}
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1959) – For the period of the Air League Jubilee celebrations
- Air Chief Marshal Sir Francis Fogarty (1968–1972)
- Air Chief Marshal Sir Denis Smallwood (1980–1984)
- Marshal of the RAF Sir John Grandy (1984–1987){{cite web|url=http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Grandy.htm |title=Air of Authority: A History of RAF Organisation. Marshal of the RAF Sir John Grandy |publisher=Rafweb.org |access-date=26 May 2014}}
- Air Marshal Sir Charles Ness (1987–1990)[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1990/1990%20-%200439.html Air League] Flight International, 14 February 1990
- Sir Michael Cobham (1990–1993)
- James Ewart Henderson CVO (1993–1996)
- Baron Tebbit (1996–1999)
- Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Knight (1999–2004)Debrett's People of Today 1994
- Sir Michael Marshall (2004–2009){{cite web|url=http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/honorary/marshall.html |title=Anglia Ruskin University |publisher=Anglia.ac.uk |access-date=26 May 2014}}
- Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge (2009–2014)
- Sir Roger Bone KCMG (2014–2021)
- Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper (2021–Present)
Women's Aerial League
The Women's Aerial League was also set up in 1909 – on 4 May https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Women%27s_Aerial_League. {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7685869|title=Catalogue description the Women's Aerial League of the British Empire. Licence granted for registration with}}
Relations with the Aerial League were friendly, but this organisation led its own existence, and also set up the Boys' and Girls' Aerial League.{{cite web|url=https://airminded.org/2014/01/31/the-other-other-aerial-league/|title = The {{not a typo|other ot|her}} aerial league – Airminded}} It was merged into the Aerial League in 1910.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.airleague.co.uk Air League web site]