Bill Reid, 79; British Pilot Won Top Honors for Wartime Exploits

Bill Reid, 79, the British World War II hero who made a bombing run over Germany after he was wounded, his co-pilot killed and his plane crippled, died Nov. 28 of heart problems at his home in Crieff, Scotland.

On Nov. 3, 1943, then Royal Air Force Lt. Reid and his six-man crew were flying a four-engine Lancaster bomber in a 600-plane mission to bomb the steelworks plant in Dusseldorf. Machine-gun fire from a Messerschmitt fighter shattered his windshield, wounded him in the head, hands and shoulder, and damaged the plane’s control mechanisms. A second German fighter riddled his plane, killing the navigator, wounding two other crewmen, hitting Reid’s right arm, crippling the plane’s oxygen supply and hydraulics system, and destroying the compass.

Reid flew the remaining 200 miles, dropped his bombs on target, and navigating by the stars and moon, returned to England despite periodic loss of consciousness and engine failure. Later in the war, another plane he was flying was shot down by friendly fire. He was captured and spent 10 months as a prisoner of war.

Reid, who made a postwar career managing agricultural firms in his native Scotland, received the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest award for valor, for his wartime exploits.