When the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service merged on 1
April 1918, to form the Royal Air Force, the new command needed to have
its own gallantry medals to distinguish itself from the Army and the
Royal Navy. Thus the new Distinguished Flying Cross came into being. Not
that this new award (along with the Distinguished Flying Medal for
noncommissioned personnel) came into immediate use, but as 1918
progressed, awards that earlier might have produced the Military Cross
or Distinguished Service Cross, became the Distinguished Flying Cross.
By the end of WWI a large number of DFCs and First Bars had been
awarded, but only three Second Bars had been promulgated for First War
actions. Before WWII erupted, only four more Second Bars had been
awarded, for actions largely in what we would now call the Middle East.
By the end of the WWII, awards of the DFC and First Bars had multiplied
greatly, but only fifty Second Bars had been awarded (and Gazetted),
making fifty-seven in all between 1918 and 1946. To this can be added
three more, awarded post-WWII, between 1952-1955, making a grand total
of sixty. Still a significantly small number of members of this pretty
exclusive 'club.'
Within the covers of this book recorded for the first time together are
the mini-biographies of all those 60 along with the citations that
accompanied their awards, or in some cases the recommendations for them.
Also recorded are citations for other decorations such as the
Distinguished Service Order, et al. The recommendations were often
longer than the actual citations themselves, and during periods of large
numbers of all types of awards, these citations did not make it into the
London Gazette, recording name of the recipient only.
As the reader will discover, the range of airmen who received the DFC
and Two Bars, cover most of the ambit of WWII operations, be they
fighter pilots, bomber pilots, night-fighter aircrew, aircrew
navigators, engineers, etc, or reconnaissance pilots. Each has
interesting stories, proving, if proof be needed, their gallantry in
action.
