Richard Macklow Trousdale DFC & Bar (23 January 1921 – 16 June 1947) was a New Zealand flying ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.

409 Squadrons and achieved a number of aerial victories, many while flying Boulton Paul Defiants and Bristol Beaufighters on night fighting duties.

For much of the remainder of the war, he performed staff and training duties but transferred to the Royal New Zealand Air Force in January 1945.

He applied for a short service commission in the Royal Air Force (RAF) in February 1938 and was accepted on a provisional basis at the end of the year.

[1] In the same draft as fellow New Zealander and future flying ace Victor Verity, Trousdale commenced his flight training at No.

It was involved in Operation Dynamo, flying patrols over the beaches at Dunkirk from which the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was being evacuated from late May to early June.

On 2 June, Trousdale and his flight engaged seven Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighters and he subsequently claimed one of these as probably destroyed.

266 Squadron moved south to Tangmere and the next day began its involvement in the Battle of Britain by being part of a large dogfight over the Isle of Wight.

On the morning of 7 September, Trousdale and two other pilots intercepted a Dornier Do 217 bomber over East Anglia and pursued it to the Scheldt estuary, off the Dutch coast, where it was shot down.

Despite all three pilots being involved in destroying the aircraft, Trousdale, who damaged one of the Do 217's engines and shot off its tail, may have received the sole credit for shooting it down.

He has destroyed at least four enemy aircraft, including one at night.The squadron's pace of operations increased in the following weeks and on the night of 9 May, Trousdale and Chunn combined to shoot down two He 111s that were raiding Hull.

[5][7] He was awarded a bar to his DFC in May, the published citation reading: This officer is an exceptionally skilful and keen fighter pilot.

[7][9] Trousdale set about bringing the squadron up to operational status, implementing training programs despite having inadequate personnel and equipment.

[10] At the start of September, the squadron moved to Ayr in Scotland where it continued training, including working with ground-based radar operators.

[11] Ranger missions, nighttime flights to occupied Europe that targeted German transportation infrastructure, began to be flown in February 1943.

[7] In March 1944, he was attached to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down; here he gained experience with a variety of aircraft, including the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

[13] At the start of 1945, having completed the five-year term of his short service commission in the RAF, Trousdale transferred to the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF).

[13][14] Trousdale returned to the United Kingdom the next month, tasked with collecting and ferrying a de Havilland Mosquito fighter bomber back to New Zealand.

[15] His wife, a former officer in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, took the couple's two children back to the United Kingdom after his death but subsequently returned to live in New Zealand.