Charles Frederick Algernon Portal

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Charles Frederick Algernon Portal

British air marshal

Also known as: Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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In full:: Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford

Born:: May 21, 1893, Hungerford, Berkshire, England

Died:: April 23, 1971, Chichester, Sussex (aged 77)

Role In:: World War II

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Charles Frederick Algernon Portal (born May 21, 1893, Hungerford, Berkshire, England—died April 23, 1971, Chichester, Sussex) was a British air marshal and chief of the British Air Staff during World War II. Portal was educated at Winchester and Christ Church College, Oxford, and joined the Royal Engineers as a dispatch rider during World War I; in 1915 he was commissioned in the Royal Flying Corps. He distinguished himself as a fighter pilot by shooting down several enemy aircraft, and for this he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Bar and the Military Cross. Between the wars his posts in ...(100 of 239 words)

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