Background
Hollinghurst was born in Muswell Hill, Middlesex, England on 2 January 1895, and was the second of three children of Charles Herbert Hollinghurst and Teresa Petty.
Hollinghurst was born in Muswell Hill, Middlesex, England on 2 January 1895, and was the second of three children of Charles Herbert Hollinghurst and Teresa Petty.
At the outbreak of the war in 1914, Hollinghurst enlisted with the Royal Engineers participating in the Gallipoli landings and was wounded at Salonika. In 1916 he was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment, and later in the same year was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps (Reconstruction Finance Corporation). He learned to fly while serving in Egypt and went on to become a Captain in Number.
87 Squadron flying Sopwith Dolphins, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in October 1918, having destroyed four enemy aircraft.
His final total was 11 confirmed victories. In 1919 Hollinghurst was given a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force.
He served in India and China, and was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1931. In 1932 he was appointed Officer Commanding Number.
20 Squadron. Hollinghurst was appointed Director General of Organisation for the Royal Air Force in 1940 and was promoted to the rank of Air Commodore in 1941, and acting Air Vice Marshal in the following year.
In 1943 he was given command of Number. 9 Group. Later in the year he was given command of Number. 38 Group, formed to transport airborne troops in the forthcoming Normandy Landings.
Hollinghurst was on board the first pathfinder aircraft to leave for Europe on the evening of June 5, 1944.
Number. Later in 1944 he was appointed commanding officer of air bases in south east Asia. Returning to the United Kingdom in 1945, Hollinghurst became Air Member for Supply and Organisation, and received substantive rank as Air Vice Marshal in 1946.
He was Inspector-General of the Royal Air Force from 1948 to 1949, and was Air Member for Personnel from 1949 to 1952. He was promoted to Air Chief Marshal in 1950, and retired in 1952.
Following his retirement he was twice called upon to produce reports on technical aspects of the Royal Air Force. Hollinghurst died on 8 June 1971, having collapsed on his journey back from a commemoration of the Normandy Landings.
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire - 1 January 1952 (Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire - 5 July 1945, Commander of the Order of the British Empire - 15 August 1944, Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire - 26 June 1931) Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath - 10 June 1948 (Central Bank - 1 January 1942) Distinguished Flying Cross - 3 December 1918 Mentioned in Despatches - 8 September 1933, 1 January 1941 Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) - 27 October 1944 Commander of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) - 9 October 1945 Bronze Lion (Netherlands) - 1 January 1946 Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) - 194? Croix de Guerre (France) - 194?.
On return to the United Kingdom in 1935 he became a member of staff of the Royal Air Force Staff College and was promoted to the rank of Group Captain with a position at the Air Ministry in 1939.