The Distinguished Flying Cross and Medal (UK)

The Distinguished Flying Cross. Obverse.

Time Period: The Great War WW1
Year of Institution: June 1918
Country: Great Britain

The Distinguished Flying Cross (or DFC) was established in June 1918, shortly after the formation of the Royal Air Force (RAF), for officers and warrant officers of the RAF for “an act or acts of valor, courage, or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy“.

The DFC now serves as the third-level award for all ranks of the British Armed Forces for exemplary gallantry in active operations against the enemy in the air, not to the standard required to receive the Victoria Cross or the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. All awards of the DFC are announced in the London Gazette.

In March 1941 eligibility for the DFC was extended to Naval Officers of the Fleet Air Arm, and in November 1942 to Army officers, including Royal Artillery officers serving on attachment to the RAF as pilots-cum-artillery observers. Posthumous awards were permitted from 1979. The DFC had also been awarded by Commonwealth countries but by the 1990s most had established their own honors systems and no longer recommended British honors.

Recipients are entitled to use the post-nominal letters “DFC”.

The Distinguished Flying Cross and Medal Design

The Cross

The decoration is a cross flory, 2.125 inches (54.0 mm) wide and was designed by Edward Carter Preston. The horizontal and bottom bars are terminated with bumps, the upper bar with a rose.

Its obverse features airplane propellers, superimposed on the vertical arms of the cross, and wings on the horizontal arms. In the center is a laurel wreath around the RAF monogram, surmounted by a heraldic Imperial Crown. The reverse is plain, except for a central roundel bearing the reigning monarch’s cipher and the date ‘1918’.

The ribbon is 1.25-inch (32 mm) wide. Originally white with deep purple broad horizontal stripes, it was changed in 1919 to the current white with purple broad diagonal stripes. The ribbon bar is silver, with the Royal Air Force eagle in its center. The suspender is straight and decorated with laurel wreaths.

Originally unnamed, the WW2 crosses usually have the year of issue engraved on the reverse of the lower limb.

The Medal

The Distinguished Flying Medal is an oval struck in silver and measures 42 mm tall and 34 mm wide.

The obverse features the sovereign’s effigy, while the reverse shows Athena Nike seated on an aeroplane, with a hawk rising from her hand. The medal was originally undated, but the date 1918 was added to the reverse with the advent of George VI obverse.

The medal is suspended by a pair of wings from a straight bar. The ribbon was originally purple and white with horizontal stripes, but since July 1919 it changed to thirteen diagonal stripes alternating white and purple.