Aviation Historian
For Valour : 2nd Lieutenant William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse VC
26 April 2025
26 September 1887 – 27 April 1915 April 26th 1915, over France Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorhouse has the distinction of being the first aviator to be awarded the Victoria […]
For Valour: 2nd Lt. (Temporary Captain) [later Major] James Byford McCudden, DSO*, MC*, MM, Croix de Guerre, General List and Royal Flying Corps.
2 April 2025
28 March 1895 – 9 July 1918 April 2, 1918,Over France Captain McCudden’s Victoria Cross is exceptional as it was awarded, not for one particular event of […]
For Valour: Lieutenant Alan Jerrard, Royal Air Force VC, MVB
30 March 2025
3 December 1897 – 14 May 1968 March 30, 1918, over Italy Lieutenant Jerrard has the distinction of being the only member of the RFC/RAF to have […]
For Valour: 2nd Lieutenant Alan Arnett McLeod, VC Royal Air Force
27 March 2025
20 April 1899 – 9 November 1918 27 March 1918, over France After 3 years of static trench warfare, on 21 March 1918 the Great War became […]
For Valour : Lieutenant Francis Hubert (Frank) McNamara, VC, Australian Forces, Royal Flying Corps
20 March 2025
4 April 1894 – 2 November 1961 March 20, 1917, over Palestine In the Middle East, Britain was fighting German and Turkish forces over a wide area, […]
For Valour : Flight Lieutenant William (Bill) Ellis Newton (Aus. 250748) VC, Royal Australian Air Force
17 March 2025
8 June 1919 – 29 March 1943 Newton in flying kit (RAF Museum PC/76/23/5) As well as providing thousands of airmen to the RAF to fight in […]
On This Day In History : 4 February 1945
4 February 2025
This day in 1945, 4 – 11 February: Yalta ‘Big Three’ Conference ‘Big Three’ at Yalta: Prime Minister Churchill; President Roosevelt; Premier Stalin. Air Chief Marshal Portal […]
For Valour: Serjeant Thomas Mottershead (1396) VC, Royal Flying Corps
7 January 2025
Serjeant Thomas Mottershead (1396) VC, Royal Flying Corps 17 January 1892 – 12 January 1917 On the ground, fighting on the Western Front had been static since […]
For Valour : Acting Squadron Leader Robert Anthony Maurice Palmer (115772) VC DFC*
23 December 2024
December 23, 1944, over Germany Acting Squadron Leader Robert Anthony Maurice Palmer (115772) VC DFC*, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 7 July 1920 – 23 December 1944 […]
For Valour : Squadron Leader Arthur Stewart King Scarf (37693) VC Royal Air Force
9 December 2024
December 9, 1941, over Malaya Squadron Leader Arthur Stewart King Scarf (37693) VC, Royal Air Force 14 June 1913 – 9 December 1941 In late 1941, Britain’s […]
For Valour : Acting Wing Commander Hugh Gordon Malcolm (33322) VC Royal Air Force
4 December 2024
December 4, 1942 over Tunisia, North African Desert Acting Wing Commander Hugh Gordon Malcolm (33322) VC Royal Air Force, 2 May 1917 – 4 December, 1942 Over […]
For Valour : Flight Sergeant Rawdon Hume Middleton (Aus. 402745) VC Royal Australian Air Force
29 November 2024
29 November 1942, over Italy Flight Sergeant Rawdon Hume Middleton (Aus. 402745) VC Royal Australian Air Force, 22 July 1916 – 29 November 1942 Following the Allied […]
For Valour : Acting Flight Lieutenant William Reid (122438) VC Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
3 November 2024
November 3, 1943, over Holland and Germany Acting Flight Lieutenant William Reid (122438) VC Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 21 December 1921 – 28 November 2001 After […]
For Valour : Captain (Acting Major) William George Barker VC DSO** MC** Royal Air Force
27 October 2024
Major Barker: signed portrait (RAF Museum AC97-93-240) 3 November 1894 – 12 March 1930 After 3 years of static trench warfare, on 21 March 1918 the Great […]
Harrier GR3 XZ997: The Journey of a Falklands Veteran
18 October 2024
The Evolution of the Harrier: From Concept to Conflict Hawker had been privately developing an aircraft with vertical take-off capabilities since the early 1950s under the codename […]
For Valour : Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Andrew Frederick Weatherby Beauchamp-Proctor
8 October 2024
Location: August – October 1918, over France Who: Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Andrew Frederick Weatherby Beauchamp-Proctor VC DSO MC and Bar DFC, Royal Air Force 4 September 1894 […]
The Royal Air Force and Operation Market Garden: Chapter 6
27 September 2024
Withdrawal and Reckoning ‘Market Garden was not a failure: it was 90% successful. We gained 90% of our objectives’. Field Marshal Montgomery in official 21st Army Group […]
The Royal Air Force and Operation Market Garden: Chapter 5
26 September 2024
22 to 26 September: Der Hexenkessel [Witches’ cauldron]/The Cauldron The attack to seize the Arnhem bridges having failed, the task falling to the troops remaining at the […]
For Valour: Flight Lieutenant David Samuel Anthony Lord
19 September 2024
Location: 19 September 1944, over Arnhem, Netherlands Who: Flight Lieutenant David Samuel Anthony Lord (49149), VC DFC , Royal Air Force 18 October 1913 – 19 September […]
The Royal Air Force and Operation Market Garden: Chapter 3
17 September 2024
The Assault, Sunday 17 September 1944 ‘No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.’ Field Marshal Helmut von Moltke (1890) Direct RAF support for Market Garden […]