Orders, Decorations and Medals

An important Great War D.S.C., A.F.C. group of six awarded to Major J. P. Wilson, Royal Naval Air Service, who destroyed the LZ38, first of the London raiders, in a bombing raid on the Zeppelin sheds at Evere
Distinguished Service Cross, G.V.R.; Air Force Cross, G.V.R.; 1914-15 Star (Flt. Cr., D.S.C., R.N.A.S.); British War and Victory Medals (Sq. Cr., R.N.A.S.); Order of the Crown of Belgium, Chevalier’s breast badge in silver, gilt and enamels, generally good very fine (6)

D.S.C. London Gazette 21 June 1915. ‘For services on the 7th June, 1915, when after a long flight in darkness over hostile territory, he threw bombs on the Zeppelin sheds at St Evere in Belgium and destroyed a Zeppelin which was inside. This officer was exposed to heavy fire from A.A. guns during the attack.’

A.F.C. London Gazette 1 January 1919. Order of the Crown of Belgium London Gazette 29 August 1917.

On the 7th June 1915, without even crossing the English coast, LZ37 and LZ39 reluctantly turned about and were making their way back to Belgium, unaware that their radio signals had been picked up and relayed to the Admiralty in London. Wing Commander Arthur Longmore, in charge of No. 1 Squadron R.N.A.S. at St Pol, related: ‘...they were reported to me over the direct telephone line from the Admiralty as being on their way back. I sent off Warneford and Rose on their Moranes to intercept in the vicinity of Ghent, and Wilson and Mills in their big weight-carrying Henri Farmans to bomb the Zeppelin sheds at St Evere, near Brussels. I hoped by this arrangement to catch one or more Zeppelins in the air, or, failing that, to set them alight after they had returned to their sheds.’

At 12.40 a.m. Flight Sub-Lieutenant J. P. Wilson took off into the mists in his Henri Farman biplane, followed after a short interval by Flight Sub-Lieutenant J. S. Mills. Flying on a compass course through the mist Wilson reached St Evere at 2.05 a.m. A searchlight from near the landing base began to signal a series of long flashes into the air. Wilson promptly replied with short flashes on his pocket lamp, which seemed to satisfy the searchlight party, and earned him immunity from anti-aircraft fire for the fifteen minutes he spent circling over his target waiting until the first light of early dawn should outline the sheds. At 2.20 a.m. the shed was just visible and Wilson, from 2,000 feet, let fall his three 65 lb. bombs, one of which seemed to hit the centre of the target and sent up dense smoke but no flames. The plane piloted by Mills arrived some ten minutes later, and when he dropped his four 20 lb. bombs the whole countryside was suddenly brilliantly illuminated and LZ38, first of the London air raiders, went up in flames. Wilson flew by compass for two and a half hours in fog on the return journey and was eventually forced to land in a field at Montreiul.

Whilst Wilson and Mills were carrying out their mission, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Rex Warneford had located and destroyed LZ37, winning the Victoria Cross in the process. Wilson and Mills were both awarded the D.S.C., receiving their awards from the King at Buckingham Palace on 1 July 1915. They were both later honoured by the King of the Belgians, whilst Wilson was also awarded the A.F.C. ‘in recognition of distinguished service’ in the 1919 New Year’s Honours.

John Philip Wilson was born on 3 April 1889, the younger son of George Wilson of Gilling East, Yorkshire, one time Mayor of York. He was educated at Harrow and was a noted cricketer, playing for Yorkshire in 1911-13. He obtained his Pilot’s Licence on a Vickers biplane at Brooklands in June 1914, and was commissioned into the Royal Naval Air Service in August 1914. He had already distinguished himself two months prior to his D.S.C. operation; on 2 April 1915 the Admiralty had announced that in conjunction with another officer, ‘while reconnoitring over Zeebrugge, they had observed two submarines lying alongside the Mole, and attacked them, dropping 4 bombs it is believed with successful results’.

Wilson was invalided from the service at the end of the war with only six months life expectancy but recovered and returned to civilian life. He continued to play country house cricket with the Yorkshire Gentlemen, whilst in Winter he devoted his spare time to country pursuits, being an excellent natural shot and a well known amateur steeplechase jockey. He rode over 400 winners, and rode three times in the Grand National, winning in 1925 on a horse called Double Chance. He re-enlisted in 1940 for non-flying duties and left the service in 1944 to work with the International Relief Organisation in Germany until 1947. He died at Tickton near Beverley on 3 October 1959.