William Sidebottom (RAF officer)

Military service

Sidebottom joined the Royal Naval Air Service on 11 October 1917, and after completing his flying training was posted the No. 3 (Naval) Squadron to fly the Sopwith Camel single-seat fighter. On 1 April 1918, the RNAS was merged with the Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force, and Sidebottom's unit was renamed No. 203 Squadron RAF.

He scored his first win on 16 June 1918, sharing the destruction of a DFW two-seater reconnaissance aircraft with Lieutenant Edwin Hayne and three other pilots. He then accumulated a series of victories between then and 29 October 1918, sharing in the destruction of two reconnaissance aircraft with Captain Leonard Henry Rochford and the mid-air burning of another with Captain Arthur Whealy. Sidebottom's final toll was the destruction of seven enemy aircraft, with five of those shared; seven driven down out of control, including two shared.

Post-war career and death

Sidebottom was transferred to the RAF's unemployed list on 1 February 1919, and a week later, on 7 February, his Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted. His citation read:

However, Sidebottom returned to RAF service on being granted a short service commission with the rank of flying officer on 24 October 1919. On 8 December 1920 Sidebottom was serving in No. 30 Squadron, part of the North Persia Force. While flying an Airco DH.9A on a bombing mission on Enzeli, then part of the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic, he made a forced landing 15 miles (24 km) from Rostamabad, and was shot and killed by Bolsheviks while trying to escape. His observer escaped unhurt. Having no known grave he is commemorated on the Tehran Memorial, Gholhak Garden, Iran.