Lieutenant Thomas Gillies Rae was born in Glasgow on January 2nd 1886 and served with the Royal Flying Corps during World War I.  He enlisted at the age of 16 and served in the South African War with the Imperial Light Horse Campaign Regiment and then the Royal Flying Corps.  Serving in Europe during the war with 48 Squardon he secured 6 victories in the air in the month before the Armistice in 1918 , demonstrating how the Bristol Fighter (2b) had become a match for the Fokker (D.VII).  He was was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in recognition of his skilled and fearless flying.  After the war he lived in South Africa, presumably discovering his love of this country during the South African (Boer) War. He died in in Cape Town in 1957 aged 72.  He was a game hunter and a sportsman winning medals and accolades in a variety of sports throughout his lifetime.

 
Sources:  http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/scotland/rae.php
                 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_G._Rae
 

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