Dermot Boyle

thumb|Dermot Boyle Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Dermot Alexander Boyle, GCB, KCVO, KBE, AFC (2 October 1904 – 5 May 1993) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served in the Second World War initially as a staff officer with the Advanced Air Striking Force in Reims in which capacity he organised the evacuation of the Force through Brest in May 1940. His war service included tours as a bomber squadron commander, as a station commander and also as an air group commander. He was Chief of the Air Staff in the late 1950s and, in that role, deployed British air power during the Suez Crisis in October 1956 and defended the RAF against the views of Duncan Sandys, the Minister for Defence, who believed that the V bomber force rendered manned fighter aircraft redundant. Quotes The size of a deterrent force must be related to the value to an enemy of the prize being protected. For example, suppose - I repeat, suppose - Russian leaders were prepared to sacrifice half their country in exchange for the removal of the USA from the competitive scene. Then, for the American deterrent to be usable, it would have to be demonstrably capable of destroying far more than half Russia in retaliation. But Russia would not be prepared to accept anything like the same damage in exchange for the removal of the United Kingdom. Therefore, a much smaller retaliatory force can give as much or greater security than the USA achieve with their vast nuclear capability. Force V: The history of Britain's airborne deterrent, by Andrew Brookes. Jane's Publishing Co Ltd; First Edition 1 Jan. 1982, 0710602383, p.137. External links Category:Military leaders from the United Kingdom Category:People from Ireland Category:1904 births Category:1993 deaths