5 replies to this topic

[Verrico2009]

Can't see that this has been mentioned: Medal sale

The Times reports that his invention was still standard equipment when he died in 1969 at the age of 80.

[KevinBattle]

At risk of thread creep, BUT Reid and Sigrist were a well known instrument manufacturer, tying in with the development of the instrument designed by George Reid in the link above
http://en.wikipedia....d_Sigrist_R.S.3
Hence the choice of "Desford" for one of their designs. (Not so sure about the "Snargasher" though!!).

[Adrian Roberts]

Why was he awarded a DFC?

He was captured in 1916; the DFC was not instituted until 1918 after the formation of the RAF.

Sometimes medals were awarded for attempts to escape while POWs, but this would have been more likely to be the MC - the DFC was for courage while flying against an enemy. Or was the definition not as strict in 1918 as it was in WW2? Or, did he serve post -WW1 in Iraq or Russia?

[IPT]

Here's a Daily Mail article;

There's a picture of him going to Buckingham Palave in 1919 to collect his medal.

http://www.dailymail...ld-War-One.html

[Adrian Roberts]

Presumbly then, the award must have been made after his return from captivity

[topgun1918]

The citation for his DFC appears in the London Gazette dated 8 February 1919:

Capt. George Hancock Reid, Sea Patrol.   (NORTH SEA).

As pilot of a Short seaplane he was engaged on a raid on Zeppelin sheds in Schleswig-Holstein on 25th March, 1916, in which he displayed great courage, ability and resource under the most trying circumstances, which included prolonged flying in a snowstorm and immersion for over three hours in the sea.

The recommendation for an award must have been made after his return to the UK.

Graeme