Hero of the Month - August 2025
Published in Britain at War - August 2025
Flight Sub Lieutenant Reginald Alexander John Warneford, VC
Flight Sub Lieutenant Rex Warneford was the first recipient of the Victoria Cross to learn of his decoration in a telegram from the ruling monarch. Indeed, the pilot’s heartfelt message from George V came within just 36 hours of his VC action in which he became one the few British airmen successfully to air-bomb a Zeppelin, Germany’s much-feared rigid airships, during World War One.
Reginald Alexander John Warneford was born in Darjeeling, India, on October 15 1891. He was the only son of five children born to Reginald William Henry Warneford, a consulting engineer to the Cooch Behar Railway, and his wife Dora (née Campbell). His parents, who had a reputation for arguing with each other, eventually separated and young Reginald, who was usually known as “Rex”, was brought up largely in England, under the care of his grandfather, the Reverend Thomas Warneford. Once in England, he attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford-upon-Avon. At school, he earned a reputation as an independent boy, variously described as “a character” and “individualistic”.
Rex’s father died in 1903 when he was just 11 and then his grandfather became so ill that he was unable to carry out his work as a reverend. This resulted in the churchman moving to Ealing, west London, where Rex lived for a time too, although this was not a happy period in his young life as his grandfather’s health continued to fail.
In January 1905, then aged just 13, he started work with the British India Steam Navigation Company, a subsidiary of P&O. He began an apprenticeship on Somahi, a liner in the company’s fleet, and his more specific role was to attend to the needs of the first-class passengers on the ship. At the end of 1905, he suffered another personal blow, to what had already been a troubled childhood, when he learnt that his much-loved grandfather had died.
Warneford’s role in the merchant navy eventually lasted eight years, taking him to the age of 21. His final position as a merchant sailor was as the navigating officer on SS Mina Brea which, unfortunately for him and the rest of the crew, ran aground off the coast of Chile before eventually returning to Liverpool, her home port. In 1914, as war loomed, Warneford applied for the fledgling submarine service, via Royal Naval College Dartmouth, but he was turned down.
In January 1915, and by this point 23 years old, Warneford volunteered to join the Army, being accepted by one of the newly-formed “pals’ battalions” the 2nd (Sportsman’s) Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers. This battalion was intended for men who were “fit and hard” and, although Warneford had not excelled as a sportsman at school, he held his own among the other young men. However, once again, he was not entirely happy with his role and his lack of action and so he applied, and was granted, a transfer to the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), then separate to the Royal Flying Corps although, like the RFC, a forerunner to the RAF, the world’s first independent air force.
Warneford was, in fact, accepted as a probationary pilot in the RNAS on February 10 1915, despite having no knowledge of flying. Just 15 days later, on February 25, he qualified as a pilot after which he was sent to 2 Squadron, RNAS, Eastchurch, Kent, where – as at school – he was seen as a bit of childish, even rebellious. It was while based at Eastchurch that he crashed one aircraft into another, emerging without any serious injury from the unfortunate collision. Despite this incident, his flying instructor described him as “a born aviator”.
On May 7 1915, Warneford was transferred to 1 Squadron, based in Dunkirk, northern France. By this point, he was getting a reputation as a slightly reckless but accomplished flyer and his courage was never doubted. After watching one of Warneford’s flawless landings, his CO, Wing Commander Arthur M. Longmore – later knighted and promoted to Air Chief Marshal – told Warneford that despite his “unsavoury reputation” he would be judged in France on how he performed with 1 Squadron.
The very night after receiving this warm reassurance, Warneford blotted his copybook again by driving one of the squadron’s tenders into a ditch. This resulted in a “final warning” from Longmore that any further unwelcome incident would result in him being transferred out of 1 Squadron.
Never one to conform, Warneford – sometimes known as “Reckless Rex” – embarked the very next day on his first operational sortie with 1 Squadron, flying a Voisin two-seater multi-purpose bi-plane with John H. D’Albiac as his observer. The duo failed to return after two and a half hours and it was feared their aircraft had either been shot down or run out of fuel and had made a forced landing. When they eventually returned to base, D’Albiac recounted how Warneford had pursued an enemy aircraft, often at tree-top height and while taking potshots at it with a rifle. The observer demanded never to be sent up in the air with Warneford again, such was his anger over the pilot’s perceived recklessness.
Early in the war, there was great apprehension in Britain, amongst the military and civilians alike, over the fact that German airships, notably Zeppelins, might proved to be unstoppable. In fact, one of the main tasks of 1 Squadron was to try to prevent Zeppelins from reaching England.
On May 17 1915, Warneford, in the rank of flight sub lieutenant, flying a two-seater Nieuport, along with another pilot, Spencer Grey, were taking part in an anti-Zeppelin patrol off the coast of Belgium They encountered an LZ39 Zeppelin which, along with two other airships, was heading for south-east England. Both pilots approached LZ39 and opened fire. However, the enemy commander acted quickly to drop the craft’s water ballast so that the Zeppelin rose quickly and out of range of the two aircraft.
Soon after this incident, 1 Squadron took possession of a pair of high-winged monoplanes, Morane Type ‘L’s, that were fitted with racks of 20 lbs bombs. Warneford was allowed to fly one of these new French-built aircraft and was doing so on the evening of June 6 1915 when he was tasked with attacking three airships en route to England. Warneford was accompanied by a second British pilot also in a Morane aircraft. Each pilot had six 20 lbs bombs in his rack.
Shortly after midnight, Warneford, at this point on his own having lost his comrade in thick mist, came across an airship over Ostend. After giving chase, Warneford found himself under fire from top gunners defending the Zeppelin. He avoided the enemy fire and gained height before a cat-and-mouse-game ensued in which the pilot tried to give the impression that the Germans in the LZ37 had beaten off his attack. At around 2.15am, as the airship got ready to land, Warneford launched a surprise attack, climbing quickly to 11,000 feet so he was a few thousand feet above the Zeppelin. When he glided down much nearer the enemy airship, he dropped the first of his bombs followed soon after by the rest of them. A huge explosion below followed as the airship was seemingly split in two.
In fact, the badly-damaged airship plunged thousands of feet in seconds and crashed into the Convent of St Elisabeth in a suburb of Ghent. One nun in the convent was killed and two more badly burnt as the debris hurled to the ground. All seven Germans on board the airship perished too.
Unaware of his successful attack, Warneford had his own problems to deal with. His aircraft had stalled moments after his successful attack, forcing him to land behind enemy lines. For a moment, it seemed as though he was destined to become a prisoner of war but a cursory examination of his aircraft revealed no damage had been done in the crash-landing. Closer scrutiny disclosed that the reason he had stalled was that the fuel feed pipe had broken. Staying calm, he managed to instal a cigarette holder in place of the broken feed and to his delight it fitted well. When he turned the ignition, the fuel flowed through the temporary “pipe” and the engine roared back into life. As he took off, a party of German soldiers emerged from a nearby wood. “Give my regards to the Kaiser!”, Warneford supposedly shouted at the troops as he narrowly escaped their clutches. He then returned to base and to a hero’s welcome for his brave deeds.
As already mentioned, his telegram from the King informing him of his VC arrived within 36 hours. His decoration was officially announced in The London Gazette on June 10 1915 and stated:
“For most conspicuous bravery on the 7th June, 1915, when he attacked and, single-handed, completely destroyed a Zeppelin in mid-air. This brilliant achievement was accomplished after chasing the Zeppelin from the coast of Flanders to Ghent, where he succeeded in dropping his bombs on to it from a height of only one or two hundred feet. One of these bombs caused a terrific explosion which set the Zeppelin on fire from end to end, but at the same time overturned his Aeroplane and stopped the engine. In spite of this he succeeded in landing safely in hostile country, and after 15 minutes started his engine and returned to his base without damage.”
Sadly, Warneford had precious little time to enjoy his fame. On June 17, while still revelling in the award of his VC just a week earlier and shortly after receiving the Legion d’Honneur from France, he was flying an American journalist, Henry Beach Needham, near Paris, and being interviewed at the same time. After Warneford had straightened out after a steep dive, his Henri Farman aircraft suddenly spun out of control, throwing the two men into a field of wheat.
Onlookers found Needham first but he was dead. Next, they found Warneford in “a terrible state” face down in the field. A civilian car that was passing was commandeered to take the pilot to hospital at Versailles but he died before a doctor could examine him. A post-mortem revealed he had suffered a fractured skull, two broken arms and fractures to his right hip and leg. Warneford was 23 years old and single when he died.
On June 21, his body was returned to England. He was buried with full military honours the next day at Brompton Cemetery, London, when more than 50,000 people lined the streets as his cortege passed, Warneford, who was hailed as a national hero, was taken through the streets of London in a gun-carriage drawn by Blue Jackets and with a 50-strong firing party honouring him with a farewell salute.
His VC – the first in the war to a member of the Royal Navy – was sent to his mother and is on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, Somerset. Up and down the country, three different streets were named or renamed in his honour.