Air Marshal Sir Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby, KCB, KBE, MC, DFC, AFC, FRAeS, DL (26 April 1896 – 26 September 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force officer whose career spanned both the First and Second World Wars.

He distinguished himself by gaining five victories during the First World War, and was present during the air battle when Lanoe Hawker was shot down and killed by Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron".

He is chiefly remembered for his role as Deputy Air Officer Commanding-on-Chief Bomber Command under Sir Arthur Harris during the latter part of the Second World War.

[citation needed] Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby was born on 26 April 1896 at 83A Edmund Street in Birmingham.

[2][3] His father was initially a tea planter in India before becoming a distinguished physician (having been elected senior president of the Edinburgh Royal Medical Society as a student, and later president of the British Medical Association) and professor of medicine at Mason University College and Birmingham University; his 'compendious knowledge of medicine, administrative ability and great energy' (which unfortunately came with irritability and lack of patience that detracted from his teaching) produced books on diseases of the digestive system, old age, and medical ethics, amongst other subjects.

[4] Educated at King Edward VI School, Saundby left in 1913 and joined the Traffic Department of the London and North Western Railway.

The instructor felt no responsibility for his pupils' flying and invariably explained away their crashes by reporting that they were hopeless idiots, better dead, of whom nothing could reasonably be expected.Saundby became a qualified pilot and joined Britain's first single-seater fighter squadron, No.

24 Squadron RFC, in its original complement[5] under famous Major Lanoe Hawker, flying the Airco DH2 on the Western Front.

[7] His initial successes began on 31 July 1916; he drove down a Fokker Eindekker out of control, and was slightly wounded in the process.

[2] On 17 June 1917 he was flying one of three aircraft, one of 37 Squadron RFC and two others from the Experimental Station that intercepted the Zeppelin L48 (Imperial German Navy Designation LZ 95) after she got lost trying to bomb London.

This period also saw him taking the sea plane course at Lee-on-Solent, studying at the RAF and Naval Cooperation School at Calshot and being awarded the Air Force Cross.

[3] Between 1919 and 1925, Robert Saundby moved slowly through the ranks of the newly formed RAF, while gaining experience of command.

He flew as co-pilot for the then Squadron Leader Arthur Harris, when the latter developed a locally improvised bombing capability for the Vernon.

[citation needed] February 1943 saw Saundby appointed to the post of deputy air officer commanding-in-chief.

[16] Saundby was awarded the Order of Leopold II with Palme and Croix de Guerre for services in the liberation of Belgium.

[citation needed] Saundby devoted much of his retirement to his role as Vice-Chairman, Council of Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association, for which he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

In retirement at Oxleas House in Burghclere he made light-trap records in his garden and entomologized the woods of West Berkshire.

[16] Saundby had many hobbies, and wrote several books on differing subjects including his role in the RAF during the war (Air Bombardment, The Story of its Development, How the Bomber and the Missile Brought the Third Dimension to Warfare) and Steam Engines (Early British Steam 1825–1925: The First 100 Years).

[citation needed] Saundby died on 26 September 1971 at Edgecombe Nursing Home, Hamstead Marshall in Berkshire.