Lieutenant Colonel Spenser Douglas Adair Grey was British flying officer of the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force during World War I, who took part in the first British strategic bombing raids in October 1914.
On 1 July 1914 the Naval Wing of the RFC was redesignated the Royal Naval Air Service, and soon after, on 4 August, Britain declared war on Germany. Three RNAS squadrons were swiftly deployed to Belgium and France, primarily to fly reconnaissance missions. Grey was in command of the RNAS squadron at Calais, when in early September an RNAS unit, comprising six aircraft taken from each squadron, were sent to Wilrijk aerodrome in Antwerp. Under the orders of Churchill, it was tasked with mounting the first long-distance bombing raid on Germany. Their targets were the airship sheds at Düsseldorf and Cologne, in order to forestall Zeppelin raids on England. For the first mission on 22 September, Baron Pierre de Caters provided a force of Belgian armoured cars which was sent out to create and defend a forward landing strip west of the Meuse, as the British aircraft did not have sufficient range to fly directly to their targets and back. The first raid was commanded by Squadron Commander Eugene Gerrard, who with Flight LieutenantReginald Marix, headed for Cologne, while Grey and Lieutenant Charles Collet flew to Düsseldorf. Their Sopwith aircraft had no fixed machine-guns, the pilots being armed only with revolvers, and carried only two or four Hales bombs. By the time the four aircraft crossed the River Roer, fog obscured the ground and Collet was the only pilot to find his target, the airship shed at Düsseldorf. He dropped his bombs from a low level, but only one hit the shed, and it failed to explode. in which Lt. Marix bombed the airship hangar at Düsseldorf, RAF Museum Hendon. On 28 SeptemberAntwerp came under attack by German heavy guns, and the RNAS aircraft assisted the Belgian defenders by flying artillery spotting missions. However, by early October, with the fall of the city seemingly inevitable, most of the RNAS unit was evacuated. On 8 October Grey and Marix took off in two Sopwith Tabloids which had been fitted with additional fuel tanks to attempt another raid. Grey arrived over Cologne to find it obscured by mist, and was again unable to find his target, so dropped his two bombs on the railway station. Marix had more luck, finding his target at Düsseldorf and dived from 3,000 to 500 feet before releasing his bombs, in the face of heavy rifle and machine fire from the ground. As he pulled away a fireball 500 feet high erupted from the shed, which contained the fully inflated airship LZ 25. Marix's aircraft sustained some damage from anti-aircraft fire, but he managed to fly to within 20 miles of Antwerp before having to land, eventually returning to the aerodrome, which he found deserted apart from Grey, Sippe, and a party of Royal Marines. They promptly left the city by truck. Antwerp fell to the Germans the following day. On 21 October, Grey, Marix and Collett were awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Grey continued to serve, and was promoted to wing commander on 31 December 1916. He was eventually retired from flying duty after sustaining injuries in several crashes, and ended the war serving in Paris as a liaison officer to the American air service. The Royal Naval Air Service had merged with the Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, so when Grey relinquished his commission on account of ill-health on 25 January 1919, he retained the rank of lieutenant-colonel, RAF.
Post-war career
In 1922 Grey took part in the first King's Cup Race, flying Blackburn Kangaroo, G-EAMJ, entered by Winston Churchill. However, he and Reginald W. Kenworthy, also flying a Kangaroo, both retired at Newcastle as they could not reach Glasgow before dark. Grey died on 8 October 1937 as a result of falling from the roof of his flat in London while rigging up an aerial for his wireless.
