Reginald Maxwell (RAF officer)

1375 after soloing a Maurice Farman biplane at the Military School at Farnborough Aerodrome on 30 June 1915,[5] and was appointed a flying officer on 11 September.

[1] He scored his first aerial victory on 27 April 1916, forcing a German Aviatik two-seater reconnaissance aircraft to land at Herlies.

20 Squadron, and still using a FE.2b, scored three more times;[7] for two of those wins, he had future aces riding as his observers, in Herbert Hamilton and David Stewart.

[8] On 18 December 1916 Maxwell was appointed a squadron commander with the temporary rank of major,[9] and on 1 January 1917 he was awarded the Military Cross in the New Years Honours.

He flew a Camel for four more wins scattered throughout 1918, with his ninth and final victory coming just two days before war's end.

[16] During the Fifth RAF Aerial Pageant, held at Hendon Aerodrome on 28 June 1924, Maxwell led the Kenley team to victory in the Relay Race Challenge Cup, piloting a Sopwith Snipe.

The four Fairey IIIFs, under the command of Air Commodore Charles Rumney Samson, flew from RAF Heliopolis to Aswan on 30 March, arriving at Khartoum the next day.

They then flew via Malakal and Mongalla in Sudan, to Kisumu in Kenya by 4 April, where four South African Airco DH.9s arrived the next day.

They left Pretoria again on 9 May, retracing their route north, and arriving back at Cairo on 22 May, having covered 11,000 miles (18,000 km).

[20] He was promoted to wing commander on 1 January 1930,[21] and returned to the Home Establishment on 2 November 1930, posted to the Depot at RAF Uxbridge.

[29] He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a temporary sub-lieutenant in 1941 to serve in the Fleet Air Arm, and was promoted to lieutenant on 15 January 1942.