Lawrence Arthur Wingfield, MC, DFC was an officer in the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and later the Royal Air Force (RAF), serving during World War I. He was a recipient of both the Military Cross (MC) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). He later became a solicitor and founder of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (now the Honourable Company of Air Pilots).
Wingfield was born in 1898 in Richmond, Surrey. He received his education at Aldenham School, near Elstree, Hertfordshire. [1]
Wingfield served in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War I, from 1910 to 1919, as a Flying Officer. His bravery in the war earned him the Military Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was captured by German forces after his aircraft was shot down and held as a prisoner of war from July 1st, 1916, to October 4th, 1917. Wingfield made a daring escape from the Strohen Camp in Hanover and crossed into Holland on October 11th, 1917. [1]
Wingfield helped organise the foundation of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, now known as the Honourable Company of Air Pilots, which was established in 1929 and became a Livery Company in 1956, and served as its first Clerk. [2] [3]
During World War II, Wingfield contributed to MI9, a department of the War Office, where he assembled a file of escape narratives and related documents. This work drew upon his own experiences as a prisoner of war and his subsequent escape. [4]
Wingfield joined the Labour Party in 1923, was elected to the St. Marylebone Borough Council in 1925, and served on the Electricity and Finance Committees. He was a member of the Council of the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers, the Royal Aeronautical Society, the London Domestic Mission, and the Fabian Society of the L.L.P. [1] In the 1929 general election he stood as Labour candidate for the Banbury constituency, coming third with 16.3% of the vote.
Wingfield was a member of the Royal Aero Club, the Belsize Boxing Club, the Inns of Court Fencing Club, and the "Done our Bit" Ex-Servicemen’s Club. [1]
Wingfield married opera singer Ella Frank in 1928. [1]
The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers, and since 1993 to other ranks, of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy".
The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance. This work gradually led RFC pilots into aerial battles with German pilots and later in the war included the strafing of enemy infantry and emplacements, the bombing of German military airfields and later the strategic bombing of German industrial and transport facilities.
The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. The medal was established on July 2, 1926, and is currently awarded to any persons who, after April 6, 1917, distinguish themselves by single acts of heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. Both heroism and extraordinary achievement are entirely distinctive, involving operations that are not routine. The medal may be awarded to friendly foreign military members in ranks equivalent to U.S. Pay Grade of O-6 and below, in actual combat in support operations.
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