Air Marshal Sir Charles Edward Chilton, (1 November 1906 – 4 August 1992) was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

from 1959 to 1962.

RAF career

Educated at

Portsmouth Grammar School The Portsmouth Grammar School (PGS) is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Portsmouth, England, located in the historic part of Portsmouth. It was founded in 1732 as a Single-sex education, boys' school ...

,Obituary: Air Marshal Sir Edward Chilton
''The Independent'', 20 August 1992 Chilton joined the Royal Air Force in 1924.
/ref> He specialised in navigation and, having served as a Navigation Instructor at the

Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school in the world. The sch ...

, was appointed Navigation Staff Officer at Headquarters

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the Strategic bombing during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in W ...

in 1937, a post he continued to hold during the early part of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He moved on to be Command Navigation Officer at Headquarters RAF Flying Training Command in 1941. In 1943 he became Station Commander at

RAF Chivenor Royal Air Force Chivenor, or more simply RAF Chivenor, is a former Royal Air Force station located on the northern shore of the River Taw estuary, on the north coast of Devon, England. The nearest towns are Barnstaple and Braunton. Originally a ...

where his role was to harry

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

s sailing in the Eastern Atlantic. 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 Royal Air Force Gibraltar or more simply RAF Gibraltar (also formerly known as North Front) is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station on Gibraltar. No military aircraft are currently stationed there, but RAF and aircraft o ...

in 1952. He went on to be Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Policy) in 1953, Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

in 1955 and Air Officer Commanding AHQ Malta in 1957. His last appointment was as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Coastal Command in 1959 before retiring in 1962. In retirement he was a Director at IBM (Rentals).

Family

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chilton, Edward 1906 births 1992 deaths Companions of the Order of the Bath Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People educated at The Portsmouth Grammar School Royal Air Force air marshals Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Royal Air Force personnel of World War II