Ferdinand Maurice Felix West Air Commodore Ferdinand Maurice Felix West VC CBE MC RAF ( 19 January 1896 – 8 July 1988 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . World War I . Born in London in 1896 , " Freddy " West was the son of an army officer killed in 1902 during the Second Boer War . Growing up in Italy , he attended the University of Genoa in 1913 and during the 1914 vacation he acquired a post in banking . When war broke out he joined the British Army , initially in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914 as a private , before being commissioned in May 1915 and joining the Royal Munster Fusiliers . He arrived in France in November 1915 . After a flight in early 1917 , West decided to transfer to the RFC , training as an observer at Brooklands , and sent back in France in April 1917 to No 3 Squadron , becoming a fully qualified observer in July 1917 , having accumulated over 100 flying hours . After six months and 225 flying hours he was posted back to Britain to undergo pilot training at Grantham . He was then posted to No 8 Squadron in January 1918 , flying Army co - operation duties with the infantry and tanks . Crewing up with Lt . John Haslam in March , West flew a series of hazardous sorties over the front , culminating with both men being awarded the Military Cross on 1 May 1918 . On 18 June 1918 , West ' s aircraft was attacked by 4 Pfalz D III scouts . West personally claimed one shot down , and skillfully evaded the rest to return to base . The next day West was bounced by a group of Fokker DVII scouts , and West dropped to 200 feet altitude and flew through a network of kite balloons to escape . Victoria Cross . He was 22 years old , and a captain in No . 8 Squadron , Royal Air Force during the First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC . On 12 August 1918 , the British Army was intending to start a major offensive , but it needed information about the enemy positions . Setting off at dawn , West and his observer , Lt JAG Haslam , flying an Armstrong Whitworth FK 8 ( serial number C8602 ) , spotted an enemy concentration through a hole in the mist . Avoiding severe ground fire , almost immediately they came under attack from seven German fighter aircraft and West was hit in the leg , and his radio transmitter was smashed . Continuing to identify his location , he remained under attack and manoeuvred his machine so skilfully that his observer was able to get several good bursts into the enemy machines , which drove them away . Only when he was sure of the enemy ’ s position did he attempt to break off and head for his own lines . He twisted his trouser leg into a tourniquet to stem the flow of blood from his wounds . Unable to make his airfield West landed behind the Allied lines and insisted on reporting his findings despite being in excruciating agony . His left leg had five wounds , one of which had shattered his femur and cut the femoral artery , and had to be amputated . Shortly afterwards he was invalided back to Britain , where on 9 November 1918 he learned that he had been awarded the Victoria Cross . After recovering from his amputation , West was fitted with an innovatively designed Swiss artificial leg . Royal Air Force . West was awarded a permanent commission in the RAF during 1919 . Posted to RAF Uxbridge , he gradually returned to flying duties . He led No . 4 Squadron RAF in 1936 , and during World War II he commanded No . 50 Wing in France during 1939 . He was subsequently Air Attaché at the British Embassy in Rome in early 1940 and thereafter was part of the British Legation in Berne , where he assisted Allied airmen who had escaped into Switzerland . At one stage the German Gestapo put a price on his head because of his underground activities . At the end of the War he was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his work . West later achieved the rank of Air Commodore . With the end of the war in Europe , he retired from the RAF and joined J . Arthur Rank Overseas Film Distributors in January 1946 . He became Managing Director in 1947 until 1958 when he retired as Chairman . Subsequent directorships included Hurst Park Syndicate , Continental Shipyard Agencies , Technical Equipment Supplies Ltd , Tokalon Ltd and Terravia Trading Services . His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Imperial War Museum . Air Commodore West was interviewed on 27 May 1979 by the art historian Anna Malinovska . The interview is reproduced in " Voices in Flight " ( Pen & Sword Books , 2006 )