Gilbert Stuart Martin Insall Gilbert Stuart Martin Insall VC MC ( 14 May 1894 – 17 February 1972 ) was a 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 service . Insall was 21 years old , and a Second Lieutenant in the 11 Squadron , Royal Flying Corps during the First World War when he won the VC . On 7 November 1915 near Achiet - le - Grand , France , Second Lieutenant Insall , on patrol in Vickers F . B . 5 Gunbus No . 5074 with 1st Class Air Mechanic T . H . Donald , engaged an Aviatik two - seter and forced the German pilot to make a rough landing in a plowed field . Seeing the air crew scramble out and prepare to fire , Insall dove to 500 ft and his gunner opened fire , whereupon the Germans fled . After dropping an incendiary bomb on the downed German aircraft , Insall flew through heavy fire at 2000 ft over enemy trenches . The Vickers ' petrol tank was hit , but Insall brought the plane 500 yards back inside Allied lines for an emergency landing . Insall and Donald stayed by the Gunbus through a bombardment of about 150 shells while awaiting nightfall . After dark , they then set to work by torch light to salvage their plane . After they repaired the machine overnight , Insall flew them back to base at dawn . Insall could not personally receive his VC , however ; he and Donald had fallen wounded into captivity on 14 December 1915 after engaging Hauptmann Martin Zander and his gunner . Insall escaped on his third try , on 28 August 1917 , and made it home over the Dutch border on 6 September . He won the Military Cross in 1918 . He returned to duty as the Flight Commander of " A " Flight , 51 Squadron , and would continue to serve his nation through 30 July 1945 . Post World War I . Insall later achieved the rank of Group Captain . After the War , Insall remained in the RAF . On a clear day in 1925 , he spotted a strange formation of pits in the ground below him . He took a photograph , and from this one photograph came the rediscovery of the Bronze Age site now known as Woodhenge two miles from Stonehenge ( Crawford , Air - Photography for Archaeologists 1929 ) . In 1929 he similarly discovered Arminghall Henge . Insall ' s headstone is in Nocton Churchyard , Lincolnshire . His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon . Citation for the Victoria Cross . " For most conspicuous bravery , skill and determination , on 7 November 1915 , in France . He was patrolling in a Vickers Fighting Machine , with First Class Air Mechanic T . H . Donald as gunner , when a German machine was sighted , pursued , and attacked near Achiet . The German pilot led the Vickers machine over a rocket battery , but with great skill Lieutenant Insall dived and got to close range , when Donald fired a drum of cartridges into the German machine , stopping its engine . The German pilot then dived through a cloud , followed by Lieutenant Insall Fire was again opened , and the German machine was brought down heavily in a ploughed field 4 miles south - east of Arras . On seeing the Germans scramble out of their machine and prepare to fire , Lieutenant Insall dived to 500 feet , thus enabling Donald to open heavy fire on them . The Germans then fled , one helping the other , who was apparently wounded . Other Germans then commenced heavy fire , but in spite of this , Lieutenant Insall turned again , and an incendiary bomb was dropped on the German machine , which was last seen wreathed in smoke . Lieutenant Insall then headed west in order to get back over the German trenches , but as he was at only 2 , 000 feet altitude he dived across them for greater speed , Donald firing into the trenches as he passed over . The German fire , however , damaged the petrol tank , and , with great coolness , Lieutenant Insall landed under cover of a wood 500 yards inside our lines . The Germans fired some 150 shells at our machine on the ground , but without causing material damage . Much damage had , however , been caused by rifle fire , but during the night it was repaired behind screened lights , and at dawn Lieutenant Insall flew his machine home with First Class Air Mechanic T . H . Donald as a passenger . "