Noble Frankland

Anthony Noble Frankland CB CBE DFC (4 July 1922 – 31 October 2019) was a British historian who served as Director General of the Imperial War Museum.

Education
Frankland attended Trinity College, Oxford from March 1941 to May 1942, and then from October 1945 to November 1947.

World War II service
He served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1941 to 1945, as a navigator in RAF Bomber Command and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1944. He left the RAF in 1945 with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. Subsequently, awarded Chevalier of the Legion of Honour for his involvement in the liberation of France in 1944.

Post-war career
From 1948 until 1951 he worked at the Air Historical Branch of the Air Ministry, and received his DPhil from Oxford in April 1951. He was an Official Military Historian to the Cabinet Office between 1951 and 1958. During this time he and his co-author Sir Charles Webster wrote a four volume official history of the RAF's strategic air offensive against Germany. This was part of the official History of the Second World War series. In 1963, he was invited to give the Lees Knowles Lecture and lectured on The Strategic Air Offensive.

From 1958 to 1960, he was deputy director of studies at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, leaving to become Director of the Imperial War Museum (IWM), a post he held from 1960 to 1982. As Director of the IWM, he transformed it from a failing institution into one of the world's leading historical centres for the study of the conflicts of the 20th century. During 1971–74, he was historical advisor to the Thames Television series The World at War (as well as being interviewed for the series) and completed several books on historical subjects.

Frankland was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1976 Birthday Honours, and appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1983 New Year Honours.

Other works

 * Noble Frankland (1981). Preface to The Imperial War Museum Duxford Handbook
 * Noble Frankland (1981). Introduction to  A Concise Catalogue of Paintings drawings and Sculpture of the first World War 1914–1918, Second Edition