Wing Commander Douglas Rivers Bagnall, DSO, DFC (23 September 1918 – 28 December 2000) was a New Zealand-born officer in the Royal Air Force.

Bagnall led a number of successful Vickers Wellington operations in support of Allied forces in Sicily, Italy and the North African desert during the Second World War.

Bagnall, though popular and outgoing, was a disciplinarian who eschewed the easy familiarity between ranks that had marked the tenure of his predecessor at 40 Squadron, John Morton.

[7] Bagnall's exceptional qualities as a pilot were well illustrated in a bombing raid on Recco railway viaduct, slightly to the east of Genoa, during the night of November 10, 1943.

[4] The bomb-aimer, Flight Lieutenant Allan Brodie, recalled: "We made five dummy runs, each one bringing us closer to the viaduct.

On the sixth run a stick of flares exploded, providing us with perfect light but I could see we would have to get even closer to be successful...The Wing Commander assured me he could.

The Wellington behaved perfectly as we came round, almost standing on a wing-tip...The aircraft was practically catapulted upwards as it gave birth to its giant bomb.

"[8] In April 1944 Bagnall, by now the longest-serving war-time commander of 40 Squadron since Major Leonard Tilney in 1917,[4] transferred to the Joint Planning Staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), where he became assistant to the Deputy Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal H. E. P. Wigglesworth.

He returned to the UK in May 1953 as part of the planning team responsible for the RAF Coronation review held in honour of the new queen, Elizabeth II.