While recovering, Air Vice Marshal Cochrane asked Bill why he did not turn back. Bill replied “I still had four engines operating and I thought it safer to carry on, rather than to turn back.”. It is thought that the freezing cold air rushing through the broken windscreen kept Bill alive by slowing the blood loss from his wounds.

King George VI recognised Bill Reid’s bravery and paid tribute to the young officer, “whose tenacity and dedication were beyond praise.”. King George presented him with a Victoria Cross, one of the highest honours for bravery, at Buckingham Palace in July 1944. By that time Bill had returned to the air, and had flown another 24 missions!

Bill Reid’s amazing story does not end there. In the same month as receiving his Victoria Cross, he was brought down during a raid against a V2 rocket site near Rheims in France.

He described the event: “We were bombing from 12,000ft and there were more planes dropping delayed action bombs from 18,000ft. They were supposed to be 15 minutes behind us but, as it turned out, one dropped his bomb-load right on top of us. The plane was torn apart and went into a terrible spin. When the nose fell off I was thrown out and I parachuted into a tree. Only one other crewmember got out, the other five all died in the plane. I tried to buy some time to give them a chance, but the controls were useless, as they had all been cut away by the bombs, which hit us from above. It was a lovely July evening and the planes above must have seen us below. Even then, we had ‘friendly fire’ incidents, and it makes the loss so much harder to bear.”

Bill was captured while trying to reach Allied lines, and sent to StalagLuft 3 at Sagan in Poland. He was later moved to Luckenwalde, south of Berlin. He was eventually liberated when the advancing Russian Army demolished the barbed wire fences with their tanks, although it took a further month before he was handed over to the Americans. After a long journey from Leipzig aerodrome to Brussels to Lyneham, Bill Reid finally returned home.

On November 28th 2001, Bill Reid VC BSc died peacefully at his home in Perthshire.

Mr. Burgess, who also passed his story onto us, als told of Mr. Reid’s wit and wisdom. His story showed us how ordinary men went through great danger and suffering, and performed amazing heroic acts to protect their country and the ones they loved.