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Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)

The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) was established on June 3rd, 1918, the birthday of King George V, and is awarded to Officers and Warrant officers for "an act or acts of valour and courage or devotion to duty performed whilst flying in active operations against the enemy". A straight silver bar is a further enhancement of the DFC, awarded for additional acts under the same terms as the cross.

The award has the shape of a silver cross and was designed by Edward Carter Preston. On the obverse aeroplane propellers are superimposed upon the vertical arms of the cross. Within a central winged roundel, encircled by a wreath of laurels and surmounted by a Imperial Crown, appear the letters RAF. In the central circle on the reverse the Royal Cyphers, GV, GVI, EIIR, appear above the date 1918. The year of issue is engraved on the lower arm of the award. The DFC is issued unnamed.
The ribbon is 1.25 inches wide, and consists of alternating violet and white stripes, each 0.125 inches wide, leaning at 45 degrees from the vertical. Until 1919, the stripes were horizontal.

From the entire period of the award from it’s inception in 1918 until 1939 when the award changed to the GVI type, only 1,217 GV DFC's were issued.

During the Second World War a total of 20,354 DFCs were awarded, with approximately 1,550 first bars and 42 second bars. Honorary awards were made on 964 occasions to aircrew from other non-commonwealth countries.
A total of 4,018 first DFC's were awarded to RCAF personnel, plus 213 first bars and 6 second bars and also 358 to FAF/RAA/RNZAF persons in RCAF, plus 23 first bars. Also there were 247 DFC's awarded to Canadians in the RAF, plus 34 first bars.
New Zealand RNZAF personnel received 1,032 DFC Crosses, eighty four first bars and four second bars, one Cross was awarded to a member of the Royal New Zealand Navy.
A total of 44 Dutch airmen received the DFC.

Aanjesen, Ola Gert* August 30th, 1918
† September 2nd, 2002

Grid List
NameDate of birthDate of deathAwards
Aanjesen, Ola Gert30-08-191802-09-2002
Abbey, James Ernest05-01-1916 
Abecassis, George Edgar21-03-191310-12-1991
Abell, John William00-00-1910 
Abraham, Ernest Joseph26-02-192015-03-1994
Acheson, John William00-00-1914 
Acworth, Richard Alvin "Acky"19-12-191601-03-1971
Adams, Donald Albert00-00-1921 
Adams, Ernest Allen00-00-1918 
Adams, Jack Sylvester11-05-1917 
Adams, Norman Thomas00-00-192124-07-2004
Adams, Reginald Arthur  
Adams, William Houghton00-00-191717-08-1989
Adams, Willis Edward00-00-1920 
Adamson, Arthur Christopher  
Addison, William Nathan12-08-191900-10-1989
Aduckiewicz, Marian02-08-191721-11-2005more
Affleck, John Robert Clark "Johnny"  
Agrios, James Edward 08-10-1990
Ahalt, Roy Mathias06-02-191815-03-2009
Aikman, Alan Frederick05-03-1919 
Ainslie, Allan Stuart01-04-191329-06-1940
Ainslie, Thomas Edgar Craig00-00-191728-12-2007
Ainsworth, Gerald William00-00-1918 
Ainsworth, Sydney 21-10-1978
Aitken, John William Maxwell, 2nd Baronet15-02-191001-05-1985
Albert, Earl Thomas01-03-1920 more
Alberts, Edward John00-00-1919 
Alcorn, Douglas Henderson  
Alderdice, William Wade00-00-1917 
Aldred, Elwood Morton26-06-191427-05-2006
Aldred, Joel Waldon00-00-1920 
Aldrich, John Gerald00-00-1918 
Aldridge, Deryck Reginald  
Aldridge, Kenneth Arthur 21-11-1943
Aldwinckle, Robert Morrison28-07-192000-00-2003
Alexander, Edward Sudbury 14-01-1944
Alexander, Robert Wilfred20-08-192021-09-1944
Alger, Clifford Tompkins 01-08-2008
Allan, George Ingram00-00-190822-01-1945
Allan, James Colomba00-00-1921 
Allan, James Llewellyn00-00-192105-11-1944
Allan, John Watson "Iain"06-05-191809-07-1988
Allan, Robert Patrick00-00-1922 
Allan, William Edward00-00-1924 
Allard, Bernard Louis Philip00-00-1924 
Allard, Geoffrey20-08-191213-03-1941
Allcroft, Frederick Charles00-00-192303-01-1944
Allen, Daniel Frederick00-00-1921 
Allen, Derek Hurlstone 18-05-1940
Allen, Ernest Ellwood00-00-1921 
Allen, Ethan 2nd00-00-1919 
Allen, Hubert Raymond "Dizzy"19-03-191931-05-1987
Allen, John Laurence 24-07-1940
Allen, Lawrence Arnold00-00-191728-04-1944
Allen, Michael Seamer15-03-192506-06-2001
Allen, Robert Swinton24-07-191400-00-1982more
Allen, Ronald James  
Allison, Harold Dennis Charles00-00-1922 
Altmann, Reginald Otto  
Alverson, James Rees00-00-192000-00-2000
Ameresekere, Ekanayake Edward Rohan21-05-191620-03-1974more
Amsterdam, van, Andreas Antonius Johannes13-11-191727-03-1945
Anderson, Alan Ford21-11-191019-12-2002more
Anderson, Albert Erik00-00-192000-00-1971
Anderson, Charles Henry00-00-1921 
Anderson, Donald Robert00-00-1921 
Anderson, Gordon Doak22-01-192327-11-2006
Anderson, Gustav Sune Lawrence  
Anderson, James Clapham  
Anderson, John Alan 23-03-1965
Anderson, John Andrew Joseph Carruthers  
Anderson, Leonard Gerhard00-00-1913 
Anderson, Leslie Scofield00-00-191722-10-1910
Anderson, Peter Murray "Andy"09-04-192211-04-1945
Anderson, Robert Thomas30-12-191905-10-2001
Anderson, Ronald Amos00-00-1921 
Anderson, Willard Leslie00-00-191627-10-2004
Anderson, William Andrew00-00-191812-02-1942
Anderson, William Brodie00-00-191408-06-1944
Anderson, William George  
Anderson, William John00-00-1922 
Anderson, William Robert Weir00-00-1920 
Andersz, Tadeusz27-10-191829-10-2007more
Andlauer, Louis Jacques Victor06-11-191901-12-1999
Andrew, Emerson William00-00-1918 
Andrew, Raymond00-00-1925 
Andrew, Robert Arthur  
Andrewartha, Charles Donald "Andy"15-04-191606-09-1973more
Andrews, Donald Roy00-00-1921 
Andrews, Frederick John  
Andrieux, Jacques Marie Anne15-08-191721-01-2005
Andrusikiewicz, Roman Wojciech Jozef19-03-1922 
Andruszko, Michal Stanislaw00-00-191700-00-1987more
Anemaet, Ricardo Antonio Dionicio "Cardo"21-04-191229-12-1991
Angell, Gerald Ellis Lintott00-02-1921 
Angell, Henry Ellis00-00-191605-12-2010
Angus, Allen Benjamin10-05-191816-05-1940
Angus, Arthur George00-00-1913 
Angus, James Russell00-00-1914 
Angus, Thomas Anderson00-00-191516-06-2005
Annan, Douglas Bruce05-05-191700-07-1990
Annand, Favell Clinton00-00-1919 
Annandale, James  
Annesley, George William00-00-1916 
Anthony, Roy Frederick00-00-1920 
Appleby, Arthur William00-00-1916 
Appleton, Charles Arthur Plewman00-00-192000-00-1998
Arbon, Paul Wade08-02-192121-11-1968
Arbuckle, George Frederick00-00-192102-03-1994
Arbuckle, William Morton00-00-1915 
Archambault, Robert Francis00-00-1917 
Archer, Gordon Walter00-00-191813-01-1982
Archer, Harold Jack  
Archer, Phillip Leslie Irving00-00-1917 
Arciuszkiewicz, Eugeniusz07-02-190710-12-1983more
Ardeline, Paul00-00-1917 
Ardis, Beverley Donn "Joe"00-00-192206-05-1997
Ardis, Victor Dempster00-00-1917 
Arens, Hermanus Josephus Aloysius Caecilia22-11-191422-10-2005
Armitage, Dennis Lockhart28-03-191205-03-2004
Armitage, Robert Munday00-00-191419-06-1997
Armstrong, Frederick Finlay00-00-191804-11-1997more
Armstrong, Hugo Throssell "Sinker"09-06-191605-02-1943
Armstrong, Lloyd George00-00-191709-01-1994
Armstrong, Norman Henry00-00-1922 
Armstrong, Stanley William00-00-1923 
Armstrong, William Albert00-00-191625-12-1992
Armstrong, William Norman00-00-1920 
Arne, Ira Clifford 23-02-2008
Arnfield, Stanley John03-10-191324-09-1954
Arnill, William Robert00-04-1915 
Arnold, Alfred Joseph00-00-1921 
Arnold, Charles Keever02-11-191306-12-1961
Arnold, Harold Frederick  
Arnot, Donald MacKenzie11-09-191821-01-1944
Arnott, Morley Albert  
Arriens, Jan Willem27-06-1922 
Arthur, Charles Ian Rose "Duke"04-06-191813-10-1998
Arthur, Lawrence  
Arthur, Wilfred Stanley07-12-191923-12-2000more
Ashcroft, Alfred Edward David 06-10-1944
Ashfield, Glyn 12-12-1942
Ashworth, Arthur 'Artie'03-05-192019-02-1994more
Asjes, Dirk Lucas21-06-191101-02-1997more
Aston, Frederick Cuthbert12-09-191900-03-2003
Atcherley, David Francis William12-01-190408-06-1952more
Atkins, Eric Granville19-03-192122-11-2011more
Atkinson, Gordon Barry07-02-1921 
Atkinson, Harold Derrick19-08-191825-08-1940
Aubertin, Pierre Gaston22-03-191507-03-1949
Auckland, Ronald James18-01-192222-07-2016
Audet, Richard Joseph "Dick"13-03-192203-03-1945
Austin, John Beech17-07-191712-01-2012
Ayerst, Peter Vigne04-11-192015-05-2014
Ayles, Reginald Norman00-00-191900-00-1992

Sources