On 9 December 1914,
Flight Sub-Lieutenant Guy William Price
RNAS was awarded
Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No. 987, earned on a
Grahame-White biplane at their school at
Hendon Aerodrome. Price was promoted to
flight lieutenant on 28 June 1915, and on 3 July 1917 he was one of the four founder members of the
Seaplane Defence Flight (later No. 13 Naval Squadron). This unit, flying
Sopwith Pup fighters, was formed at
Saint-Pol-sur-Mer to escort unarmed
Short reconnaissance seaplanes used in the
Dover Strait on anti-submarine patrols. However, Price would not achieve aerial success until late 1917, when he was posted to No. 8 Naval Squadron as a
Sopwith Camel pilot. At 1350 hours on 5 December 1917, he destroyed a German
Albatros D.V fighter aircraft. Five minutes later, he helped squadron mate Flight Sub-Lieutenant Wilfred Harry Sneath drive down another Albatros D.V out of control for his second victory. The next day, Price teamed with Flight Sub-Lieutenant
Harold Day to drive a
DFW two-seater reconnaissance aircraft down out of control. Day and Price replicated this success on both 27 and 28 December, making Price an ace. He was promoted to
flight commander on 1 January 1918, and then next day, scored the first of the six solo victories he would score that month; this particular sortie was mentioned when he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. After shooting down in flames an enemy reconnaissance plane on the 6th, he drove down Albatros D.Vs on the 19th and 22nd; the latter win was noted in his second recommendation for the DSC. Price then destroyed another Albatros D.V on the 24th over
La Bassée. On 28 January, he incinerated another reconnaissance two-seater in the same locale. Finally, on 16 February 1918, he joined with Canadian ace Herbert Fowler in flaming another German reconnaissance two-seater. Two days later, Price went on a
trench strafing mission where
Theodor Rumpel of
Jasta 23 dove on him and shot him down. Price's first Distinguished Service Cross was
gazetted on 22 February 1918. The Bar in lieu of a second award followed with unusual rapidity, being gazetted on 16 March 1918. ==Honours and awards==