Reginald Alexander John Warneford
Reginald Alexander John Warneford , (born October 15, 1891 in Darjiling , India , † June 17, 1915 ) was a pilot of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) who was awarded the highest British medal, the Victoria Cross .
Life
Warneford was born in Darjiling as the son of an Indian Railways engine driver. He came to England as a little boy. There he first attended the King Edward VI. School in Stratford-upon-Avon . When his family returned to India, he continued his education at the English College in Simla .
At the time of the outbreak of World War I , he was in Canada , from where his return to India was due. However, his path led him to Great Britain instead. There he first joined the Army, but shortly afterwards he switched to the Royal Naval Air Service for the purpose of pilot training for the Air Force of the Royal Navy .
On June 17, 1915, Warneford died of injuries sustained in a plane crash while being transported to hospital. Shortly before, he had received an award of the Legion of Honor from the French General Joffre and, after the subsequent celebration, had set off from the airport in Buc on a test flight. On a subsequent second flight with the American journalist Henry Beach Newman as a passenger, the right wing of his plane collapsed during a climb, whereupon the plane crashed. Warneford was buried in Brompton Cemetery.
Award
He achieved fame and the aforementioned award by dropping a bomb in World War I on June 7, 1915 on the German army airship LZ 37 over Ghent , which he set on fire, whereupon it crashed. This was the first successful launch of a zeppelin ever. His Victoria Cross is on display in the Fleet Air Arm Museum (Yeovil, Somerset, England) .
literature
- Arch Whitehouse: Aviator Aces 1914-1918 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1970, pp. 288-294.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Warneford, Reginald Alexander John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) officer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 15, 1891 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Darjiling , India |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 17, 1915 |