DArcy Greig - My Golden Flying Years: From 1918 Over France, Through Iraq in the 1920s, to the Schneider Trophy Race of 1927

During the early seventies, my wife and I decided to move away from London in order to bring up our young family in the countryside. I joined Sussex Police as a constable, and having completed my initial training was posted to Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex. This small town on the Sussex coast, to the west of Hastings, had about 28,000 inhabitants at that time. It was soon evident that a large majority of the residents had been in the services, and had also taken part in one, or both of the world wars. Bexhill-on-Sea appeared to be an ideal retirement area with excellent facilities, and the bonus of sunny Eastbourne just along the coast.

I knew little about the area when we arrived there. However, my keen interest in aviation history, led me to the local museum and it wasnt long before I discovered that the De La Warr Pavilion on the seafront in Bexhill had been adopted by the Luftwaffe as a marker by their bombers en route to London, during the Second World War. The two adjacent towns to the east, Hastings and St Leonards, were both locations that had been used by the RFC and RAF for initial training. This looked like a promising start for pursuing my hobby.

Being young in the police service, and keen to work in the CID, I would be among the first to volunteer to respond to calls from victims of burglaries or thefts. My training on police motor cycles meant that I could often be at a scene of crime before the CID had arrived. It was as a result of responding to a report of a theft that I first met up with Air Commodore DArcy Greig DFC AFC in the mid 70s.

Bexhill was (and probably still is) a prime target for the criminal activities of the antique knocker whose tactics are to take advantage of the elderly and infirm. This breed of criminal usually work in pairs and specialise in obtaining valuable items by persuading the home owner to let them in for a free valuation, or a straight offer to purchase. Once inside, their skill lies in distracting the unsuspecting resident (for example by wrongly informing them that their furniture has woodworm) or offering generous amounts to purchase a particular antique on display. Meanwhile, the unobserved accomplice would be free to locate and pocket any cash or small valuable items on display, with both of them leaving pretty quickly after that.

Unfortunately this is an all too common crime, and DArcy Greig had become one more victim. It transpired that he had initially sold a desk for cash to these callers, probably after some heavy persuasion. After they left his home, he realised that a silver cigarette box and case and other small items were missing, which he duly reported to the police.

Arriving at the address in Birchington Close, Cooden, the door was answered to me by a spritely and fit elderly gentleman with a prominent hooked nose and pencil moustache. I asked if he was the Mr Greig who had reported a theft of silver items. He corrected me, saying that his name was in fact DArcy Greig, and invited me in. As soon as I entered, my attention was drawn to a couple of very large black-and-white framed photographs hanging in the hallway, one of which I instantly recognised as a Supermarine seaplane. The second frame held a photograph of two gentlemen, one with a blackened oily face, (and obviously him), whilst the other person was in RAF uniform, both of them displaying beaming smiles. Being distracted by these photographs, I was curious about the occasion captured in this image. DArcy Greig just smiled and explained that he had been one of the pilots in the Schneider Trophy race, and the photo had been taken at the conclusion of one of the runs. He identified the person in RAF uniform as another pilot, Flt Lt Dick Waghorn. DArcy Greig went on to tell me that he had eventually ended up third in the 1929 race.

Although I was by this time fascinated at the prospect of knowing more about the Schneider Trophy, I was there to investigate a crime. DArcy Greig told me that two unknown men had knocked at his door and had talked their way uninvited into the house, asking to purchase antiques. Spotting a desk, they had persuaded DArcy Greig to part with it for an agreed sum. After their departure he discovered they had also taken the other items without him knowing. Both the silver cigarette case and the box meant a lot to him, as they were associated with the Schneider Trophy contest. Facsimile signatures were engraved within, and they were therefore unique and identifiable.

We eventually moved into the living room where I noticed something on the dining table which the offenders had fortunately missed. It was a solid silver replica scale model of the Supermarine S6 aircraft on a wooden base, which I later learned from DArcy Greig had been presented to all the participating British pilots. So much fascinating information unravelling from this chance meeting, but I had to complete my enquiries. I took descriptions of the two offenders, along with the property taken, and assured him that the stolen items would be difficult to dispose of because of their rarity. He escorted me to the front door, and as I left, invited me to visit again whenever I had the time as it showed I was obviously interested in aviation. On the basis of that open invitation I visited DArcy Greig and his wife Eve on many occasions to discover more about the trophy and his flying career.