 McCloughry left the AFC in August 1919 and pursued a career as an engineer in the United Kingdom before joining the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1922.He served there in a strategy-planning capacity through the Second World War.In 1940, under the influence of Lord Beaverbrook, he circulated a series of anonymous memos which were highly critical of senior RAF figures; in response, he was posted to South Africa, but the fallout continued and by the end of the year the Chief of the Air Staff and several other commanders had been replaced.