Flight Sub-Lieutenant R. A. J. Warneford, R.N.
On the morning of June 7, 1915, Lieutenant Warneford, who was flying in a very light monoplane, sighted a Zeppelin between Ghent and Brussels, and made straight for it. While approaching it he was too low, and was fired at by the Zeppelin's guns. Keeping to the rear of the airship, he climbed upwards by a series of jerks, until he was well above it. Then he swooped down until he was only fifty feet above the great gas bag, and dropped six bombs, the last of which burst the Zeppelin's envelope. A loud explosion followed, and the airship fell to the ground in the midst of smoke and flame. The force of the explosion turned his machine upside down, but he succeeded in righting it. Shortly afterwards his pressure pump failed to work, and he was obliged to come down in the German lines. He got out of the machine, repaired the pump, scrambled in again, and soared off. For two and a half hours he continued flying, and then he came down, happily behind his own lines. He was so weary that he fell fast asleep by the side of the machine, and was finally discovered by French soldiers only twenty yards from the cliffs of Gris-nez.[79] The story of his brilliant feat was flashed over the world, and his name at once became a household word in two continents. He had, by superb courage and skill, destroyed the first of the Zeppelins in flight. The Allies vied with each other in doing him honour; but, alas! his career, which promised so much, was soon brought to a close. Ten days later, while trying a new machine at Versailles, he was thrown out and killed.
Captain Lance George Hawker, D.S.O., Royal Engineers and Royal Flying Corps.
On 19th April Captain Hawker dropped bombs on a German airshed from a height of only 200 feet. He was under heavy fire all the time, and ran terrible risks. To avoid the shells hurled at him, he took refuge behind a German captive balloon, and was enabled to make good his escape. For this feat he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. On 25th July, when flying alone, he fell in with three German aeroplanes, and attacked them one after the other. The first escaped, but he damaged the second and third so badly that they were forced to descend. For this splendid feat he received the V.C.
Captain John Aidan Liddell, 3rd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and Royal Flying Corps.
During a scouting flight from Ostend to Ghent an enemy shot broke Captain Liddell's thigh, smashed the control wheel, and otherwise damaged his machine. For a brief time he was unconscious, and his machine dropped nearly 3,000 feet. With a great effort he pulled himself together, and, though continually fired at, managed to bring his aeroplane into our own lines half an hour after he had been wounded. Only an airman can appreciate the extraordinary skill and determination which the wounded officer displayed.
Second Lieutenant Gilbert Stuart Martin Insall, No. 11 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps.
On 7th November Lieutenant Insall was out patrolling with a mechanic as gunner, when he was sighted and attacked by a German machine. With great skill he got to close range with his opponent, and his gunner fired a drum of cartridges which brought the German aeroplane to the ground. When the Germans scrambled out of their machine Lieutenant Insall dived towards them, and his gunner opened fire on them and they fled. An enemy party now fired at him; but, undeterred, he dropped a bomb on the fallen machine and set it on fire. He then flew over the German positions, and descended so low that his gunner was able to fire on the German trenches as they passed over them. His petrol tank was damaged, and he was forced to land in a wood inside our lines. At once the enemy's artillery opened fire on him, and some 150 shells fell around the machine as it lay on the ground. That night, behind screened lights, he repaired his machine, and at dawn flew home safely with his gunner.
Squadron Commander Richard Bell Davies, D.S.O., R.N.
Commander Davies was the hero of one of the most striking incidents known to aerial warfare. On 19th November lieutenant Smylie made a raid upon the Turkish railway station of Ferijik, on the Turkish river Maritza. He planed down over the station, and dropped all his bombs but one. While doing so his machine was badly hit, and he had to come to earth in a neighbouring marsh. In order to prevent the enemy from capturing his machine he set it on fire. He had hardly done so when he saw Commander Davies coming to his rescue. Fearing that the commander would descend near the burning machine, and thus run the risk of being blown up by the remaining bomb, Lieutenant Smylie took out a pistol, fired at the missile and exploded it. Then Commander Davies swooped down, picked up the lieutenant, and hurried off with all speed into safety. Seldom, if ever, has such a feat of pluck and gallantry been performed.