Roderick Aeneas Chisholm

Air Commodore Roderick Aeneas Chisholm, (23 November 1911 – 7 December 1994) was a British night fighter pilot, flying ace—a title awarded to a pilot credited with shooting down at least five enemy aircraft in aerial combat—and a highly decorated British airman of the Second World War. As a night fighter pilot, he was credited with at least nine aerial victories.

Early life Roderick Aeneas Chisholm was born on 23 November 1911 at Bridge of Allan in Scotland. He went to school at Ampleforth College and commenced tertiary studies at the Imperial College of Science and Technology. In 1930 he joined the Auxiliary Air Force and served with No. 604 Squadron, based at Hendon. Commencing flying training on Westland Wapiti trainer aircraft in October, he was commissioned as a pilot officer the following year in March 1931. Four months later he was the pilot of a Wapiti that crashed at Tangmere while carrying his commanding officer, Air Commodore McNeece Foster, as a passenger.

Second World War Still in the Middle East on the outbreak of the Second World War, Chisholm presented himself for service in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Undergoing initial entry at RAF headquarters in Iraq, by February 1940 he was back in the United Kingdom. He underwent a conversion course at No. 3 Flying Training School at South Cerney and in June was posted back to No. 604 Squadron. Chisholm destroyed two more He 111s on the night of 9 April, one near Ringwood and the other over the English Channel near Boscombe. Two days later he shot down a He 111 to the south of Bournemouth and probably destroyed a Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber inland of Poole Harbour. On 29 April he shot down a He 111 over Middle Wallop. His last aerial victories of the year were on the night of 8 July, when he destroyed one He 111 to the east of Exeter and damaged a second. Rested from operations in January 1942, Chisholm, now in the rank of squadron leader, was awarded a Bar to his DFC the following month. After two months service as a fighter controller at Middle Wallop, Chisholm took up a posting at the headquarters of No. 81 Group in March, where he coordinated the training of night fighter crews around the country. In June, and now holding the rank of wing commander, he took command of the Fighter Interception Unit (FIU) at Ford. In early 1944, Chisholm was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in recognition of his work at the FIU. The citation for the DSO was published in The London Gazette and read:

Mentioned in Dispatches at the start of 1945, by the end of the war in Europe, Chisholm held the rank of air commodore and was based in Germany. On 14 June, he was again mentioned in dispatches. His duties at this time involved gathering information on German tactics and technology used against British bombers by interviewing former Luftwaffe personnel. He ended his service in the RAF the same month and returned to the oil industry. He subsequently wrote a book about his wartime experiences entitled Cover of Darkness, published in 1953 by Chatto & Windus ( 2020 reprint). He retired in 1970 and spent at least some of his final years living in Hampshire. He died on 7 December 1994.