Editing Duncan Sandys (section)

==Wartime career==
During the [[Second World War]] Sandys fought with 51st (London) HAA Regiment in the [[Norwegian campaign]] and was wounded in action; this left him with a permanent limp.<ref name = Holmes/>

His father-in-law gave him his first ministerial post as [[Financial Secretary to the War Office]] from 1941 to 1944 during the wartime coalition government. Sandys had been wartime Parliamentary Secretary to the [[Ministry of Supply]].  [[W. A. Robotham]] who had been in the Ministry as "Chief Engineer of Tank Design" wrote that he was knowledgeable on army matters. Robotham of [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]] who had headed development of the [[Rolls-Royce Meteor|Meteor]] tank engine  in WWII was surprised and pleased when in 1963 Sandys said "I regard the adoption of the Meteor tank engine as the absolute turning-point in the history of British tank development", at the opening of a Rolls-Royce aero engine factory at [[East Kilbride]] (aero engines being Rolls-Royce's main business).<ref>{{cite book |last= [[William Arthur Robotham|Robotham]]  |first= William Arthur |title= Silver Ghosts and Silver Dawn |edition=  |year= 1970 |publisher= Constable |location= London |isbn=  |oclc= |page=246 }}</ref>

From 1944 to 1945 he served as [[First Commissioner of Works|Minister of Works]] for the remainder of the coalition and in the [[Churchill Caretaker Ministry]]. While a minister he was chairman of a [[War Cabinet]] Committee for [[Operation Crossbow|defence against German flying bombs and rockets]], on which he frequently clashed with the scientist and intelligence expert [[R. V. Jones]].<ref>R. V. Jones, ''Most Secret War'', Hamilton, 1978</ref> However, he lost his seat in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]]. He resigned his TA commission as a [[lieutenant-colonel]] the following year.<ref name = Holmes/>