KIDD Leonard Cameron

Awarded the Military Cross (M.C.)

Leonard Kidd was born in 1893. He attended Bromsgrove School from 1905 to 1910. The son of Dr Cameron Kidd of Bromsgrove, he was tea planting in Ceylon when the war broke out but returned as soon as possible and at once obtained a commission in the R.F.C. as he was already in possession of a Pilot’s Certificate. He went to France in February 1916 and had been flying there continuously. A series of his missions took place during the first use of tanks in war at the battle of Flers-Courcelette on the Somme in September 1916. News was received that he had been awarded the Military Cross and on the same day he was killed, his machine being struck by a shell which severed one of the wings. He is spoken of as the best pilot in the Squadron; his commander says that he was continually doing daring work and that he was a great loss both to the squadron and to the Royal Flying Corps. He was in the French Morane-Saulnier monoplane. (The Type L was the first proper fighter aircraft during the early days of World War 1 when one was fitted with a machine gun firing through the propeller by Roland Garros.  Kidd died in No 5178).

Source: Bromsgrove School at War 1914-19 by Philip Bowen and Bromsgrove School at War 1914-19 by David Cross.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
On 13th October 2017 a rededication ceremony was held for Lieutenant Leonard Cameron Kidd, MC and Second Lieutenant Fenton Ellis Stanley Phillips, MC, both of The Royal Flying Corps, at 11am at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, France.

Lt Kidd MC and 2nd Lt Phillips MC, 3 Squadron RFC, were killed on 12 October 1916 during the Le Transloy phase of the Battle of the Somme, flying a Morane Saulnier Parasol aircraft. Records confirm they were hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed. Through research it has been established that the two were buried next to each other in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery.

Lieutenant Leonard Cameron Kidd MC was born in 1893 in the Bromsgrove area. He was educated at Bromsgrove School and at the outbreak of war was tea planting in Ceylon. Already a qualified pilot, he enlisted into the Royal Flying Corps and was sent to France in February 1916. Operating over the Somme area, shortly before his death Leonard received notification that he had been awarded the Military Cross. An entry in the London Gazette of 14 November 1916 records that his Military Cross was awarded ‘for conspicuous skill and gallantry on contact patrol work’. Leonard was also awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.