Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Warneford, Reginald Alexander John
WARNEFORD, REGINALD ALEXANDER JOHN (1891–1915), airman, was born at Darjeeling, India, 15 October 1891, the eldest child and only son of Reginald William Henry Warneford, civil engineer, of Puddletrenthide, Dorset, by his wife, Dora Alexandra Campbell. He was educated at the English College, Simla, and at King Edward's grammar school, Stratford-on-Avon, from which he entered the merchant service. On the outbreak of the European War, Warneford joined the second (‘Sportsmen's’) battalion, Royal Fusiliers, in August 1914. In February 1915 he was granted a commission as probationary flight sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Air Service, and gained his certificate at Hendon, flying a Bristol biplane, on 25 February. He was sent to No. 1 wing at Dunkirk, where his commanding officer reported on his ‘remarkable keenness and ability’. On 7 June, flying a Morane monoplane, he attacked at 6,000 feet, between Ghent and Bruges, a zeppelin airship, on which he dropped six bombs from close range. The last bomb set fire to the zeppelin, but the force of the bomb's explosion turned the aeroplane upside down, the engine stopped, and Warneford was compelled to land in enemy territory. He was able to restart his engine after fifteen minutes and to return to his aerodrome. His achievement, brilliant in itself, robbed the zeppelin of much of its terror and pointed the way to the true method of defending England against airship raids. He was awarded the Victoria cross—the first officer of the naval air service to be so honoured. He did not long survive to enjoy his fame. On 17 June he went up from the aerodrome at Buc, near Paris, to test a Henri Farman machine which he was to fly to Dunkirk. The machine broke in the air, and Warneford and an American passenger were killed. His body was brought to England for burial in Brompton cemetery.
[Official records; personal knowledge.]