Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Rare Great War ‘Bloody April’ M.C. group of three awarded to Second Lieutenant G. R. Y. Stout, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, attached Royal Flying Corps, the sixteenth victim of the great German air ace Lothar Von Richtofen

Military Cross, G.V.R., in its case of issue; British War and Victory Medals (2.Lieut.) together with Bronze Memorial Plaque (George Ronald Yorston Stout) this contained in a leather frame; a leather flying helmet, and his brother’s Great War pair (Lieut. T. Y. Stout, R.N.V.R.) medals and plaque nearly extremely fine, flying helmet with some wear (6)

Military Cross London Gazette 26 May 1917 (1/8th Bn. Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders). The following recommendation is taken from official records:

‘For continuous good service and devotion to duty, especially on the following occasions:- On April 9th 1917, near Thelus, when on infantry contact patrol, he flew twice for periods of two hours at a very low height and on each occasion brought in a very complete and detailed report of the situation of the attack. His machine was damaged by machine gun fire on both occasions. On the first occasion work was carried out in a high wind, accompanied by many snow and rain storms, sometimes at a height of four hundred feet in the region full of our barrage shells.

On April 10th 1917, near Farbus, under similar conditions a successful contact patrol was carried out. During a particularly bad snow storm he lost his way, but finding himself several miles over the lines he returned at a height of a few hundred feet against a strong head wind and a heavy snow storm and succeeded in rendering a very complete and detailed report of the situation. His machine was very badly damaged by rifle and machine gun fire from the ground.’

Second Lieutenant George Ronald Yorston Stout, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, was educated at Kelvinside Academy and Fettes College. He enlisted into the British army in 1915 and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He first went to France in May 1916 and was attached to the Royal Flying Corps. He took part in several contact patrols during ‘Bloody April’ 1917, whilst employed as an observer, and gained the award of the Military Cross. On the 30 April, one month before his award was officially Gazetted he was killed in action. The Squadron Record Book states ‘2 Lieut Laurence and 2 Lieut. Stout left the aerodrome at 5:40am on 30/4/1917. Reported shot down by H.A. 3,000 yards E. of Vimy at about 6:10am landing out of control in flames.’ Thus, Lothar Von Richtofen claimed his sixteenth victim; forty minutes later he would account for the destruction of his seventeenth and by August 1918, when he was seriously wounded, his tally had reached 40, exactly half that of his brother Manfred ‘The Red Baron’. These figures are a reflection not just of the Richtofen’s skill as fighter pilots but of the overall superiority of the German planes in comparison to those of the Allies. Second Lieutenant Stout is buried in Lievin Communal Cemetery Extension, France. Sold with detailed research, including a copy of a letter written by his father to the Squadron Commander requesting more details of his son’s death. Lieutenant T. Y. Stout is listed as a casualty in The Cross of Sacrifice, Vol II, but date and other details are not recorded.