Great War Western Front Air Observers pair awarded to 2nd Lieutenant H.S. Cranfield, Royal Air Force, formerly Royal Flying Corps, who was commissioned in August 1918, and saw service with No.18 Squadron out at the front when flying in Airco DH.9A two-seater single-engined light bomber’s from September 1918 onwards. He went on to serve with the Army of Occupation, and later worked as an insurance clerk for Lloyds.
Pair: British War Medal and Victory Medal; (2/LIEUT. H.S. CRANFIELD. R.A.F.), mounted swing style as worn.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Herbert Stanley Cranfield was born on 7 January 1900 in Deptford, London, the elder of two brothers born two years apart, he being the son of Herbert William Cranfield, a silversmith’s assistant, who was widowed not long after the birth of his second child. By 1911 the family were living with their grandparents at 61 Sprules Road, Brockley, when Cranfield was aged 11 and at school. The family later moved to 14 Drakefell Road in New Cross, and he went to work as a clerk, but owing to the ongoing Great War, he then enlisted into the British Army on 9 January 1918, and joining as an Air Mechanic 3rd Class (No.117164) the Royal Flying Corps, for duties as a miscellaneous aviator.
Cranfield transferred into the Royal Air Force on its formation on 1 April 1918 as a Private 2nd Class, and was then selected for officer training and posted to No.1 Cadet Wing before being selected for training as an observer, then passed through No.1 School of Aviation and was posted to Eastchurch from 15 June 1918. Cranfield was then commissioned from Officer Cadet to 2nd Lieutenant on his being appointed an observer officer on 266 August 1918, and posted out to the Western Front from 1 September 1918, where he then joined No.18 Squadron at around the time this squadron was being re-equipped with the Airco DH.9A two-seater single-engined light bomber.
Post war Cranfield found himself on service for a period with the Army of Occupation, and was ultimately transferred to the Unemployed List on 24 September 1919. As of 1939 Cranfield was living in Orpington, Kent, and was working as a clerk for the insurance firm of Lloyds, he being married to a woman ten years his senior, Lydia Cranfield, who was working as a secretary for the Consulate-General of Denmark.
