William Sidebottom (RAF officer)

William Sidebottom
Born 11 October 1893
Manchester, England
Died Unknown
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch Aviation
Years of service ca 1917–1920
Rank Lieutenant
Unit No. 3 Squadron RFC/No. 203 Squadron RAF
Awards Distinguished Flying Cross

Lieutenant William Sidebottom (born 11 October 1893, died 8 December 1920) was a World War I flying ace credited with fourteen aerial victories.[1][2]

Sidebottom joined the Royal Naval Air Service on 11 October 1917. In 1918, he was assigned to 203 Squadron as a Sopwith Camel pilot.[3] He scored his first win on 16 June, sharing the destruction of a DFW two-seater reconnaissance plane with Lieutenant Edwin Hayne and three other pilots. He then accumulated a trickle of victories through 29 October 1918, sharing in the destruction of two reconnaissance planes with Captain Leonard Henry Rochford and the midair burning of another with Captain Arthur Whealy. Sidebottom's final toll was the destruction of seven enemy airplanes, with five of those wins shared; seven driven down out of control, including two shared triumphs.[4][5]

Post World War I

Sidebottom's Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted to him on 7 February 1919. By this time, he may have already been in southern Russia, as he served there in 1919.[6] He was shot by Bolsheviks while trying to escape after making a forced landing in northwest Persia on 8 December 1920.[7]

Honours and awards

Text of citation for the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)

"Lieut. William Sidebottom, 203rd Squadron. (FRANCE)

This officer has carried out numerous offensive and low bombing patrols with courage, skill and judgment. He has also proved himself a bold and resolute fighter in aerial combats, having nine enemy machines to his credit."[8]

Sources of information

  1. ↑ Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920. p. 338.
  2. ↑ http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/sidebottom.php Retrieved on 9 June 2010.
  3. ↑ Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920. p. 338.
  4. ↑ http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/sidebottom.php Retrieved on 9 June 2010.
  5. ↑ Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920. p. 338.
  6. ↑ Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920. p. 338.
  7. ↑ RAF Museum Story Vault: Casualty Card Type - Incident: Sidebottom, W. (William)
  8. ↑ (Supplement to the London Gazette, 8 February 1919) http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/31170/pages/2046 Retrieved on 9 June 2010.

References