John William Rayner

Rayner was born on 19 May 1897 in Gateshead, County Durham, England.[1] He was working as a legal articled clerk before enlisting.[2]

After training as a cadet in the Officers' Training Corps, Rayner was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) on 14 April 1915,[3] serving in the 1st Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers.[2] He was confirmed in his rank,[4] and promoted to lieutenant on 3 November 1915.[5]

Rayner relinquished his acting rank of captain in the Fusiliers on 16 January 1917,[6] and on 22 February was appointed a flying officer (observer) in the Royal Flying Corps with the rank of lieutenant, with seniority from 18 January 1917.[7] He first served as an observer in No. 52 Squadron RFC,[8] before training as a pilot, receiving Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate No. 5535 on 10 September 1917,[1] and being appointed a flying officer the same day.[9]

Rayner was posted to No. 89 Squadron RFC,[1] a recently formed training unit based at Catterick, Yorkshire, which was eventually disbanded in July 1918 without becoming operational.[10] With the Army's Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service having merged to form the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, Rayner then joined No. 60 Squadron RAF, based in France, to fly the S.E.5a single-seat fighter,[8] being appointed flight commander of 'A' Flight on 1 August 1918, with the temporary rank of captain.[11]

He gained his first aerial victories on the evening on 5 September when he set one German Fokker D.VII aflame and drove another down out of control over Avesnes-le-Sec. On the afternoon of 23 October he drove another one down out of control over Salesches, and on the morning of 25 October he set a D.VII afire and drove another one down out of control over Berlaimont to become an ace.[1][8]

On 17 January 1919, Rayner was transferred to the unemployed list of the Royal Air Force.[12] In July 1919 he received a mention in despatches from Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, former Commander-in-Chief of the British Armies in France, for "distinguished and gallant services and devotion to duty" during the period 16 September 1918 to 15 March 1919.[13] He finally resigned his commission in the Northumberland Fusiliers on 1 April 1920, retaining the rank of lieutenant.[14]

Rayner then returned to his legal studies, and qualified as a solicitor. On 10 September 1929, he returned to his military career, being commissioned as a probationary flying officer in Class A of the Reserve of Air Force Officers.[15] Six years later, on 10 September 1935, he transferred to the Class C reserves.[16]

He returned to active service during World War II, still serving in the Reserves, in which he was granted the war substantive rank of flight lieutenant on 6 August 1940,[17][18] and received his second mention in despatches from the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief on 24 September 1941, by which time he had been appointed an acting-squadron leader.[19]

He relinquished his commission in the RAFO on 15 September 1943,[20] on joining the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve with the rank of flight lieutenant.[21] He was again appointed an acting-squadron leader, and this was made war substantive on 6 March 1944.[22] Two days later, on 8 March, he received his third mention in despatches.[23]

Rayner relinquished his commission on the grounds of ill-health on 21 December 1944, but was permitted to retain the rank of wing commander.[24] Shortly afterwards, in the 1945 New Year Honours, Rayner was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.[25]

After the war returned to the law, and by the time of his retirement was also a Justice of the Peace.[8]

• Aerial victory standards of World War I

Bibliography

• Shores, Christopher F.; Franks, Norman & Guest, Russell F. (1990). Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. London, UK: Grub Street. ISBN 978-0-948817-19-9.