Air Chief Marshal Sir Douglas Charles Lowe, GCB, DFC, AFC^[1] (14 March 1922 – 24 January 2018) was a Second World War pilot and a senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Douglas Charles Lowe was born on 14 March 1922.^[2] He married Doreen Elizabeth Nichols the daughter of Ralph Henry Nichols. Their only daughter, Frances Elizabeth Lowe, married Christopher Russell Bailey, the 5th Baron Glanusk.^[3]

Lowe enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) in 1940,and trained under the Arnold Scheme at Americus Georgia. He returned to England and flew as a pilot during the Second World War. As a sergeant, he was granted an emergency commission in the RAFVR as a probationary pilot officer on 4 January 1943.^[4] He was promoted to probationary flying officer on 1 July 1943.^[5]

As an acting flight lieutenant with No.75 (N.Z.) Squadron, Lowe was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 9 July 1943.^[6] He was confirmed in his rank of flying officer on 23 December 1943,^[7] and received a mention in despatches in January 1945.^[8] Lowe was promoted to flight lieutenant (war-substantive) on 1 January 1945.^[9] In the 1946 Birthday Honours, Lowe was decorated with the Air Force Cross.^[10] He remained in the RAF post-war, being awarded a permanent commission in the rank of flying officer on 1 July 1946, with a subsequent promotion to flight lieutenant on 4 July.^[11][12]

Lowe was promoted to squadron leader on 1 July 1952.

On 1 January 1958 he was promoted to wing commander on 1 January 1958^[13][14] to command the Vickers Valiants of 148 Squadron at RAF Marham in Norfolk, part of the UK "V" force which was NATO's deterrent to the build-up of the Warsaw Pact nations led by the Soviet Union.

Promoted to group captain on 1 July 1962, he served as Station Commander at RAF Cranwell from November 1963 to 1965.^[15][16] With his promotion to air commodore on 1 July 1966, he attained air officer rank.^[17] He was promoted to air vice marshal on 1 January 1970 and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1971 Birthday Honours.^[18][19]

In 1973 Lowe was appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 18 Group and he continued in this post until 1975.^[20] Thereafter, he was promoted to air chief marshal and was appointed the Controller of Aircraft:^[21] he remained in that post until late 1982.^[22] Lowe was the Chief of Defence Procurement at the Ministry of Defence from 1982 to 1983.^[23] He retired on 22 August 1983.^[24]

Lowe died on 24 January 2018 at the age of 95.^[25]