Charles Burnett

Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Stuart Burnett, (3 April 1882 – 9 April 1945) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the first half of the 20th century. He was Air Officer Commanding Iraq Command during the early 1930s. During the Second World War, he served as Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Australian Air Force. Early life Charles Burnett was born in Browns Valley, Minnesota, United States on 3 April 1882. He was the second son of John Alexander Burnett and Charlotte Susan Burnett. John Burnett was originally from the Scottish village of Kemnay in Aberdeenshire. Burnett was educated at Bedford School in England. His younger brother was Robert Burnett who was later knighted and rose to the rank of admiral. Early career In 1899, Burnett enlisted as a private in the Imperial Yeomanry to fight in the Second Boer War. Burnett claimed to be 18 when he was in fact only 17. He was discharged in 1901 that he might take a commission and he was gazetted as a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry in October 1901. Burnett was then attached to the Imperial Yeomanry, where he temporarily held the rank of lieutenant in the 38th battalion from 26 April 1902 to 7 February 1903. He left South Africa for home on the SS Avondale Castle with other members of the battalion in late December 1902.