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| Name: | Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees | Country: | Wales | Rank: | Lieutenant Colonel | Service: | Royal Flying Corps | Squadrons: | 11, 32 | Victories: | 8 | Born: | 31 July 1884 | Place of Birth: | Caernarvon | Died: | 28 September 1955 | | Place of Death: | Bahamas |
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| | The son of an army officer, Rees attended Eastbourne College before entering the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. Obtaining a commission in 1903, he entered the Royal Garrison Artillery where he earned a reputation as a superb marksman. In 1912, he learned to fly at his own expensive, receiving his pilot's certificate in January 1913. After serving with the West African Frontier Force, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in August 1914, becoming an instructor at Upavon. Flying the Vickers F.B.5 in 1915, he saw action with 11 Squadron before assuming command of 32 Squadron in January 1916. On 1 July 1916, Rees encountered ten enemy bombers while on patrol in an Airco D.H.2. Attacking alone, he drove down two of the enemy aircraft. While attacking another, his Lewis gun ran dry. Before mounting a fresh drum of ammunition, he pulled a revolver only to lose it somewhere in the cockpit. Badly wounded in the leg, Rees turned away as the two-seater retreated back across the lines. For his actions that day, he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Rees retired from the Royal Air Force as a Group Captain in 1931 and moved to the Bahamas. | |
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