Lieutenant William Sidebottom was a World War I flying ace

Flying ace

A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...

 credited with fourteen aerial victories.

William Sidebottom joined the Royal Naval Air Service

Royal Naval Air Service

The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...

 on 11 October 1917. In 1918, he was assigned to 203 Squadron as a Sopwith Camel

Sopwith Camel

The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...

 pilot. He scored his first win on 16 June, sharing the destruction of a DFW

Deutsche Flugzeug-Werke

Deutsche Flugzeug-Werke, usually known as DFW was a German aircraft manufacturer of the early twentieth century. It was established by Bernhard Meyer and Erich Thiele at Lindenthal in 1910, and initially produced Farman designs under licence, later moving on to the Etrich Taube and eventually to...

 two-seater reconnaissance plane with Lieutenant Edwin Hayne

Edwin Hayne

Captain Edwin Tufnell Hayne was a World War I flying ace credited with 15 aerial victories.-Early life:Edwin Tufnell Hayne was the son of Emily and Tufnell Hayne. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa...

 and three other pilots. He then accumulated a trickle of victories through 29 October 1918, sharing in the destruction of two reconnaissance planes with Captain Leonard Henry Rochford

Leonard Henry Rochford

Leonard Henry Rochford DSC & Bar, DFC was a British World War I Flying Ace with twenty-nine credited victories.-Involvement in World War I:...

 and the midair burning of another with Captain Arthur Whealy

Arthur Whealy

Arthur Treloar Whealy DSC & Bar DFC was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 27 victories.-Background:Whealy was a medical student at the University of Toronto before World War I...

. Sidebottom's final toll was the destruction of seven enemy airplanes, with five of those wins shared; seven driven down out of control, including two shared triumphs.

Post World War I

William Sidebottom's Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted to him on 7 February 1919. By this time, he may have already been in southern Russia, as he served there in 1919.

Honours and awards

Text of citation for the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)

"Lieut. William Sidebottom, 203rd Squadron. (FRANCE)

This officer has carried out numerous offensive and low bombing patrols with courage, skill and judgment. He has also proved himself a bold and resolute fighter in aerial combats, having nine enemy machines to his credit."

Reference

• Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920 Christopher F. Shores, Norman L. R. Franks, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1990. ISBN 0-948817-19-4, 9780948817199.