John Bisdee - Battle of Britain Pilot's Blog
John Derek Bisdee was born at Weston-super-Mare in 1915 and joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in July 1937. At the start of September 1939 he was called up for service and completed his training at RAF Brize Norton. At the end of his course he was commissioned and posted to No.609 Squadron at Drem near Edinburgh.
Bisdee saw action over Dunkirk in June 1940 and remained with 609 throughout the Battle of Britain. By the time he left the squadron at the end of July 1941 his score stood at 6 destroyed (plus two shared) 3 probably destroyed and 2 damaged (plus one shared) and he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross.
After instructing at No.61 Operational Training Unit for some nine months Bisdee was given command of No.601 Squadron and on 20 April 1942 he led 12 Spitfires off the deck of the carrier USS Wasp, off Algiers, to fly to Malta. The following day he shot down a Ju 88 but was himself shot down and spent several hours in his dinghy. In June he took his squadron to Egypt to operate over the Western Desert but was posted to HQ Middle East in August. He was involved in plans for the invasion of Sicily and then commanded No.323 Wing, comprising three Spitfire squadrons, a Wellington anti-shipping squadron, together with a Beaufighter unit, No. 255 Squadron's night fighters, one RAF and one American air-sea rescue squadron, two marine craft units and three squadrons of Italian floatplanes.
By the end of the war Bisdee had reached the rank of Group Captain and been appointed OBE. He left the service in 1945 to resume his pre-war career with Unilever, and died in October 2000.
