Roderic Hill
| Sir Roderic Maxwell Hill | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1 March 1894 |
| Died | 6 October 1954 (aged 60) |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
British Army (1914–18) Royal Air Force (1918–48) |
| Years of service | 1914–48 |
| Rank | Air Chief Marshal |
| Commands held |
Fighter Command (1943–45) No. 12 Group (1943) RAF Staff College (1942–43) Palestine and Transjordan Command (1936–38) No. 45 Squadron (1924–25) |
| Battles/wars |
First World War Arab revolt in Palestine Second World War |
| Awards |
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Military Cross Air Force Cross & Bar Mentioned in Despatches (4) Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion (Czechoslovakia) Commander of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) Croix de guerre (France) |
| Other work | Rector of Imperial College London (1948–53) |
Air Chief Marshal Sir Roderic Maxwell Hill, KCB, MC, AFC & Bar (1 March 1894 – 6 October 1954) was a senior Royal Air Force commander during the Second World War. He was a former Rector of Imperial College and Vice-Chancellor of London University. The Department of Aeronautics of Imperial College is situated in a building named after him.
Educated at University College, London, Hill joined the 18th Bn Royal Fusiliers as a private soldier in 1914 during the First World War and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a commissioned officer in 1916. He took an interest in aircraft design and in 1917 became Officer Commanding the Experimental Section at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough Airfield. He was made Officer Commanding No. 45 Squadron in 1924 and flew Vernon transport aircraft on the Air Mail Route carrying British Government air-mail between Cairo and Baghdad, and made other air journeys in Iraq. He wrote and illustrated a memoir of his time in Iraq and the Middle East: it gives a lively account of flying the large biplanes of the period over difficult desert terrain, and also provides a sharply focussed, and sometimes lyrical description of the landscape and people of the region.
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