Against the Odds - The Life of Group Captain Lionel Rees VC

AGAINST THE ODDS is the story of Wales’s first air hero and Britain’s first official fighter pilot. Lionel Rees of Caernarfon was an officer in the regular army when war broke out in 1914 and he transferred to the infant Royal Flying Corps.

He went to France with No. 11 Squadron in 1915 and with No. 32 Squadron the following year. On 1 July 1916, he won the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy.

He played a role in the very early days of the US Air Force and was one of the founding fathers of the RAF College, Cranwell. During the 1920s he was involved with the Druze tribesmen in Transjordan and, whilst in the Middle East, developed a passionate interest in the archaeology of the Old Testament.

In 1933 he became the first man to sail solo from Britain to the Caribbean and spent several years sailing amongst the West Indian islands before eventually settling on the Bahamian island of Andros where he married and raised a family.

A remarkable individual who was once described as.’ the bravest man in the world’, Rees was truly a person who did everything against the odds.

W. ALISTER WILLIAMS, a native of Gwynedd, currently lives in Wrexham where he is Deputy Head of Humanities at a secondary school.

A graduate of the UCNW Bangor, he is the author of a number of books and articles on Welsh military and local history including The VCs of Wales and the Welsh Regiments. He is married and has two children.