Air Commodore Ferdinand Maurice Felix West, (19 January 1896 – 8 July 1988) was a senior Royal Air Force officer, aviator, and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Early life Born in Paddington, London, on 19 January 1896, "Freddy" West was the son of an army officer killed in 1902 during the Second Boer War. His mother Clemence was French, née de la Garde de Saignes, and moved with him to Milan, Italy. He began study of International Law at the University of Genoa in 1913, then during the 1914 vacation took up a post in a Zurich bank. His mother and nun aunt were friendly with Monsignor Achille Ratti, who later became Pope Pius XI. The young Freddie West went on at least one local climbing expedition with the future pope, and later in life attended a Vatican audience. First World War When the First World War broke out he in 1914 joined the British Army, initially in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a private, before being commissioned in May 1915 and joining the Royal Munster Fusiliers. He arrived in France for service on the Western Front in November 1915. After a flight in early 1917, West decided to transfer to the Royal Flying Corps, training as an observer at Brooklands, and sent back in France in April 1917 to No 3 Squadron, becoming a fully qualified observer in July 1917, having accumulated over 100 flying hours. After six months and 225 flying hours he was posted back to Britain to undergo pilot training at Grantham. He was then posted to No 8 Squadron in January 1918, flying Army co-operation duties with the infantry and tanks. Crewing up with Lt. William Haslam in March, West flew a series of hazardous sorties over the front, culminating with both men being awarded the Military Cross on 1 May 1918. On 21 April 1918 West, flying with observer Grice, witnessed the last combat and fall of Manfred von Richthofen, Germany's leading fighter pilot. On 18 June 1918, West's aircraft was attacked by four Pfalz D.III scouts. West personally claimed one shot down, and skillfully evaded the rest to return to base. The next day West was bounced by a group of Fokker DVII scouts, and West dropped to 200 feet