George Reid ( RAF officer ) Air Vice Marshal Sir George Ranald MacFarlane Reid KCB , DSO , MC & Bar ( 25 October 1893 – 19 May 1991 ) was a senior officer of the Royal Air Force . He began his career in aviation in World War I with the Royal Flying Corps after transferring from the Black Watch . He rose through a series of command positions in the RAF to become a consequential participant in World War II . World War I service . Reid began his military career in the Officer Training Corps prior to World War I . He was commissioned a Temporary Second Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on 15 August 1914 , in the early days of the war . However , it was with the Black Watch that he went into action ; in January 1915 , he was wounded at the Battle of Festubert while with the Watch . The wound could not have been serious , as Reid began pilot ' s training that same month . The following month , on 16 February , he was confirmed as a Second Lieutenant . He earned Aviators ' Certificate No . 1900 , awarded on 16 October 1915 . Upon completion of training , he was assigned to 25 Squadron ; his appointment as a Flying Officer dated from 15 November 1915 . Reid destroyed enemy aircraft on 16 , 19 , and 21 May 1916 , using a Royal Aircraft Factory FE . 2 b with Lieutenant James Anderson Mann as his pilot . Reid won a Military Cross on 24 June 1916 as a result of these victories . On 19 June , Reid had been transferred to 20 Squadron as a Flight Commander with the accompanying rank of Acting Captain . With 20 Squadron , Reid used a slightly newer FE . 2d with Lieutenant Laurence H . Scott as his gunner ; the pair scored six more wins between 29 July and 21 October 1916 . Reid ' s final tally was seven German planes destroyed , two driven down out of control . A Bar in lieu of a second MC followed , on 25 November 1916 . On 10 February 1917 , Reid was promoted to Temporary Major , a squadron command rank in wartime . On 30 March 1917 , he was promoted to command of 18 Squadron on the Western Front . On 25 July 1918 , he was transferred to command of 211 Squadron . Between the World Wars . On 23 May 1919 , Reid took command of 206 Squadron . Over the next year and a half , the squadron would move from the Western Front to Germany and on to Egypt , renumbering as 47 Squadron along the way . He received the rank of Squadron Leader to match his position , on 1 August 1919 . When this assignment ended on 30 December 1920 , he moved on to three years of staff duty . On 23 April 1924 , he took command of 99 Squadron . On 1 July 1925 , he was again promoted , to Wing Commander . In the wake of this promotion , on 15 September 1925 , he was transferred to command of RAF Spitalgate . This ended on 8 September 1927 , when he was posted to Khartoum as Senior RAF Officer . He returned home from this posting on 20 January 1930 . Over the next three years , he would attend both the RAF Staff College and the Imperial Defence College , with a staff assignment wedged between . On 1 July 1932 , he was promoted to Group Captain . On 25 March 1933 , he began duty as Air Attaché to the United States , in Washington , D . C . Upon his return to England , on 3 October 1935 , he took command of RAF Upper Heyford . He was raised to Air Commodore on 1 July 1936 . World War II . After a spell as Commandant of a technical school , Reid was chosen as Air Officer Commanding British Forces Aden . On 1 April 1939 , he reached Air Vice - Marshal . While in this post , he had to project air operations 200 miles out to support British defense efforts in Somaliland ; lack of usable airfields kept him from stationing airplanes closer to the effort . Nevertheless , Reid ' s conduct of these air operations garnered him a Mention in Dispatches in both the 12 September 1941 report of General Sir Archibald Wavell to the Secretary of State for War , and of Wavell ' s followup to it on 21 May 1942 . Reid ' s return to England saw him posted as Air Officer Administration at Headquarters Flying Training Command on 18 July 1941 . From there , he moved to becoming Air Officer Commanding No . 54 Group on 21 June 1943 . On 14 December 1944 , he became Air Officer Commanding West Africa . Post World War II . Reid retired on 20 January 1946 , having faithfully served his country for 32 years and through two world wars . On 1 January 1952 , he was honored with the appointment of Gentleman Usher to King George VI . He continued in that post for Queen Elizabeth II ; she renewed his appointment 1 August 1952 . On 10 November 1959 , Reid resigned as Gentleman Usher , but was concurrently appointed an Extra Gentleman Usher .