First World War Reid began his military career in the
Officer Training Corps prior to the First World War. He was commissioned a temporary
second lieutenant in the
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on 15 August 1914, in the early days of the war. However, it was with the Black Watch that he went into action; in January 1915, he was wounded at the
Battle of Festubert while with the Watch. The wound could not have been serious, as Reid began pilot's training that same month. The following month, on 16 February, he was confirmed as a Second Lieutenant. He earned Aviators' Certificate No. 1900, awarded on 16 October 1915. Upon completion of training, he was assigned to
No. 25 Squadron RFC; his appointment as a
flying officer dated from 15 November 1915. Reid destroyed enemy aircraft on 16, 19, and 21 May 1916, using a
Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2b with Lieutenant James Anderson Mann as his pilot. Reid won a
Military Cross (MC) on 24 June 1916 as a result of these victories. On 19 June, Reid had been transferred to
No. 20 Squadron RFC as a
Flight Commander with the accompanying rank of acting captain. With 20 Squadron, Reid used a slightly newer FE.2d with Lieutenant
Laurence H. Scott as his gunner; the pair scored six more wins between 29 July and 21 October 1916. Reid's final tally was seven German planes destroyed, two driven down out of control. A
Bar in lieu of a second MC followed, on 25 November 1916. On 10 February 1917, Reid was promoted to temporary
major, a squadron command rank in wartime. On 30 March 1917, he was promoted to command of
No. 18 Squadron RFC on the
Western Front. On 25 July 1918, he was transferred to command of
No. 211 Squadron RAF. When this assignment ended on 30 December 1920, he moved on to three years of staff duty. On 23 April 1924, he took command of
No. 99 Squadron RAF. In the wake of this promotion, on 15 September 1925, he was transferred to command of
RAF Spitalgate. This ended on 8 September 1927, when he was posted to
Khartoum as Senior RAF Officer. On 25 March 1933, he began duty as
Air Attaché to the United States, in Washington, D.C. Upon his return to England, on 3 October 1935, he took command of
RAF Upper Heyford. He was raised to
air commodore on 1 July 1936.
Second World War After a spell as Commandant of a technical school, Reid was chosen as Air Officer Commanding
British Forces Aden. On 1 April 1939, he reached
air vice marshal. While in this post, he had to project air operations 200 miles out to support British defense efforts in
Somaliland; lack of usable airfields kept him from stationing airplanes closer to the effort. Nevertheless, Reid's conduct of these air operations garnered him a
Mention in Despatches in both the 12 September 1941 report of General Sir
Archibald Wavell to the
Secretary of State for War, and of Wavell's followup to it on 21 May 1942. Reid's return to England saw him posted as Air Officer Administration at Headquarters
Flying Training Command on 18 July 1941. From there, he moved to becoming Air Officer Commanding
No. 54 Group on 21 June 1943. On 14 December 1944, he became Air Officer Commanding
West Africa. ==Later life==