RCAF Aviation History: Air Chief Marshal Lloyd Samuel Breadner, CB, DSC

Air Chief Marshal Lloyd Samuel Breadner, CB, DSC

(RCAF Photo)

Air Marshall Lloyd Samuel Breadner Commanding Officer Royal Canadian Air Force 1940-43.

(RCAF Photo)

A/C Breadner became Chief of Air Staff on 29 May 1940, and having been promoted to Air Marshal on 19 Nov 1941, became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RCAF Overseas in January 1944. Breadner was promoted on his retirement on 25 Nov 1945, to Air Chief Marshal, the first Canadian to hold this rank.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4732063)

Lloyd S. Breadner and Instructor John Simpson at the Wright school, Dayton, Ohio. The pair are seated at the dual controls of a Wright Model-B biplane, c1915.

Air Chief Marshal Lloyd Samuel Breadner, CB, DSC (14 July 1894 – 14 March 1952) was a Canadian military pilot and Chief of the Air Staff during the Second World War. Breadner obtained his pilot's certificate at the Wright Flying School and was commissioned in the British Royal Naval Air Service on 28 Dec 1915. During the First World War he served on the Western Front as a fighter pilot in the No. 3 (Naval) Squadron. He was promoted to Flight Lieutenant (RNAS) on 31 Dec 1916. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on 23 May 1917.

The citation read:

“For conspicuous gallantry and skill in leading his patrol against hostile formations. He has himself brought down three hostile machines and forced several others to land. On 6 Apr 1917, he drove down a hostile machine which was wrecked while attempting to land in a ploughed field. On the morning of 11 Apr 1917, he destroyed a hostile machine which fell in flames, brought down another in a spinning nose dive with one wing folded up, and forced a third to land.”

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3213052)

F/L Lloyd S. Breadner in his Sopwith Pup fighter "Happy" with the Walmer, Kent, Defence Flight, c1916.

Squadron Commander Lloyd Breadner and 3 (Naval) Squadron were posted to RAF Walmer during the Winter of 1917/1918 . He was released from the RAF with the rank of major in March 1919. He was commissioned promoted to Squadron Leader in 1920 and transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on its formation in 1924. He became Controller of Civil Aviation in 1922, and later commanded Camp Borden from 15 Jan 1924, to 23 Sep 1925. He was promoted to Wing Commander on 1 Apr 1924. After attending RAF Staff College, he was the Director of the RCAF from 15 Feb 1928 to 29 Apr 1932. From 1932 until 1935 he commanded Trenton and then attended the Imperial Defence College. He was promoted to Group Captain on 1 Feb 1936, and to Air Commodore on 4 Aug 1938.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194620)

Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King, Air Chief Marshal Lloyd S. Breadner, Mrs. Clementine Churchill, wife of PM Winston Churchill, Vice-Admiral Percy W. Nelles and Lieutenant-General Kenneth Stuart at the Quadrant Conference, 11-24 Aug 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194633)  

Air Chief Marshal Lloyd S. Breadner during the Quebec Conference,  11-24 Aug 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194619)

Air Chief Marshal Lloyd S. Breadner, Vice-Admiral Percy W. Nelles and other senior military officers attending the Quebec Conference.

On 30 Nov 1944, while he was Chief of Air Staff, his son, Flying Officer Donald Lloyd Breadner, was killed after an air gunnery exercise, while flying a de Havilland Mosquito from RCAF Station Debert, in Nova Scotia.

A/C/M Breadner’s awards include 23 May 1917: Distinguished Service Cross, 1 Jan 1943: Companion, Order of the Bath, 23 Oct 1943: Military Cross, First Class (Belgium), 24 Aug 1944: Grand Officers Cross of Polonia Restituta (Poland), 5 Oct 1946: Order of the White Lion, Class II (Czechoslovakia), 20 Dec 1946: Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander), 12 Sep 1947: Commander of the Legion of Honour (France), 12 Jun 1948: King Haakon VII's Cross of Liberty(Norway). (Wikipedia)

(IWM A 18826)

Admiral of the Fleet Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Chief of Combined Operations, with the Combined Chiefs of Staff at the Quebec Conference of 1943. Left to right (at Chateau Frontenac): Lord Louis Mountbatten, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, General Sir Alan Brooke, RCAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Air Marshal L.S. Breadner, Field Marshal Sir John Dill, Lieutenant General Sir Hastings Ismay, Admiral E.J. King, General H.H. Arnold, Admiral W D Leahy, Lieutenant General K. Stuart, Vice Admiral P W Nelles and General G.C. Marshall.

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