Raymond Collishaw

Raymond Collishaw
Raymond Collishaw
	Collishaw in the cockpit, c. 1918
Nickname(s)	"Collie"
Born	22 November 1893; Nanaimo, British Columbia
Died	28 September 1976 (aged 82); West Vancouver, British Columbia
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Naval Air Service (1915–18); Royal Air Force (1918–43)
Years of service	1915–1943
Rank	Air Vice Marshal
Commands	No. 14 Group (1942–43); No. 204 Group (1941); No. 202 Group (1939–41); Egypt Group (1939); RAF Heliopolis (1936–39); No. 5 Wing (1935–36); RAF Upper Heyford (1935); RAF Bircham Newton (1932–35); No. 23 Squadron (1925–27); No. 41 Squadron (1923–24); No. 30 Squadron (1921–23); No. 47 Squadron (1919–20); No. 3 Squadron RNAS (1918)
Battles/wars	First World War; Russian Civil War; Second World War
Awards	Companion of the Order of the Bath; Distinguished Service Order & Bar; Officer of the Order of the British Empire; Distinguished Service Cross; Distinguished Flying Cross; Mentioned in Despatches (4); Order of St. Anna, 2nd Class with Swords (Russia); Croix de guerre (France)
Relations	George Leonard Trapp (brother-in-law)

Raymond Collishaw, CB, DSO & Bar, OBE, DSC, DFC (22 November 1893 – 28 September 1976) was a distinguished Canadian fighter pilot, squadron leader, and commanding officer who served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and later the Royal Air Force (RAF). He was the highest scoring RNAS flying ace and the second highest scoring Canadian pilot of the First World War. He was noted as a great leader in the air, leading many of his own formations into battle. After the Great War, he became a permanent commissioned officer in the RAF, seeing action against the Bolsheviks in 1919–20, and subsequently commanding various Air Service detachments. During the Second World War, he commanded No. 204 Group (which later became the Desert Air Force) in North Africa, achieving great success against the numerically and technologically superior Italian Air Force. He was retired in 1943.