Edward Chilton

Sir Edward Chilton
Born	1 November 1906
Died	4 August 1992
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1924 - 1962
Rank	Air Marshal
Commands held	RAF Chivenor AHQ Ceylon RAF Gibraltar AHQ Malta Coastal Command
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Order of the Bath

Air Marshal Sir Charles Edward Chilton KBE CB (1 November 1906 – 4 August 1992) was a Royal Air Force officer who became Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Coastal Command.

RAF career

Educated at Portsmouth Grammar School,^[1] Chilton joined the Royal Air Force in 1924.^[2] He specialised in navigation and, having served as a Navigation Instructor at the Central Flying School, was appointed Navigation Staff Officer at Headquarters RAF Bomber Command in 1937, a post he continued to hold during the early part of World War II.^[2] He moved on to be Command Navigation Officer at Headquarters RAF Flying Training Command in 1941.^[2] In 1943 he became Station Commander at RAF Chivenor where his role was to harry U-boats sailing in the Eastern Atlantic.^[1]

After the War he was made Air Officer Commanding AHQ Ceylon before becoming Director of Personal Services in 1949 and Air Officer Commanding RAF Gibraltar in 1952.^[2] He went on to be Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Policy) in 1953, Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters RAF Coastal Command in 1955 and Air Officer Commanding AHQ Malta in 1957.^[2] His last appointment was as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at RAF Coastal Command in 1959 before retiring in 1962.^[2]

In retirement he was a Director at IBM (Rentals).^[1]

Family

In 1929 he married Betty Wrinch; they had one son.^[1] Following the death of his first wife he married Joyce Cornforth (née Fenwick) in 1964.^[1]

References