Campbell, Hugh Lester

Hugh Lester Campbell, air marshal (b at Salisbury, NB 13 July 1908; d at Ottawa 25 May 1987). Commissioned in the RCAF in 1931 after gaining an engineering degree from the University of New Brunswick, Campbell was director of training plans at Air Force Headquarters during the formative stages of the BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AIR TRAINING PLAN in 1939-40. He then served in the UK and Middle East before finishing the war as an air vice-marshal and member of the Air Council, Ottawa. Campbell was the first commander of the Canadian Air Division in Europe 1952-55, a period that saw Canada’s European air commitment to NATO rise to 12 squadrons. A dynamic leader who did not suffer fools gladly, he became chief of the air staff in 1957, retiring in 1962 when he was appointed a commissioner of the NWT. He died in Ottawa on May 25, 1987