Reginald Marix

Who is Reginald Marix?

Air Vice Marshal Reginald Leonard George Marix CB DSO was a British aviator originally with the Royal Naval Air Service and later to reach a high rank in the Royal Air Force. He is credited with being the first pilot to destroy a Zeppelin, when in 1914 he bombed the airship sheds at Düsseldorf.

Marix joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1912 and was one of the early naval aviators he gained his aviators certificate in January 1913. On 8 October 1914 he was one of three Sopwith Tabloid aircraft that attacked the airship shed at Düsseldorf, Marix dropped a bomb from 500 feet onto the shed and succeeded in destroying Zeppelin LZ25 of the Imperial German Army, the first recorded destruction of dirigible by an aircraft. In 1916 he was testing an aircraft near Paris when it broke up in mid-air injuring Marix, he had to have his left leg amputated. Although no longer an active flyer he moved across to the newly formed Royal Air Force in 1918 when it was formed. During the second world war he rose to the rank of Air Vice Marshall until he retired in 1945.