[1] In 1912 he attended the Central Flying School and in 1914 he was given command of the seaplane carrier HMS Empress.

8 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915 and Station Commander at RNAS Felixstowe in 1918.

In 1920 he was the Chief of Staff to Group Captain Robert Gordon for the highly successful Somaliland campaign.

[2] He went on to be Officer Commanding the RAF Depot in Egypt in 1925, Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters RAF Iraq Command in 1928 and Director of Organisation and Staff Duties at the Air Ministry in 1929.

[1] He served in World War II initially as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Coastal Command, then as Air Officer Commanding RAF Ferry Command, in which capacity using his knowledge of the sea he properly identified the likely position of the German battleship Bismarck using a Catalina flying boat allowing it to be sunk.