THIS is the story of Horace Cannon, the Bradford car mechanic who was awarded the Albert Medal for gallantry while serving as an aircraft mechanic in the Royal Flying Corps – later the Royal Air Force.

This is an award that no longer exists – it was discontinued in 1971 after being replaced by the George Cross in 1949. But in its time, from 1867 when it was created to commemorate Queen Victoria’s husband and consort Prince Albert, it was a high honour, made of gold.

Horace James Cannon, born in Bradford in 1895, remains the only Bradfordian to receive it. After joining the 16th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment – one of the Pals battalions – early in 1915 he decided to volunteer for the RFC, was accepted, and served as an aircraft mechanic in France and England.

Promoted to Flight Sergeant, he was at RFC Station Grantham in Lincolnshire (renamed RAF Spitalgate in 1942) on January 21, 1918, when a warplane coming in to land crash-landed and burst into flames.

Horace and another Flight Sergeant risked their lives to rescue the pilot, who later died from his injuries. Horace was honoured for his efforts.

He retired from the RAF after that and served in the Home Guard in the Second World War. He had a car dealership and repair shop on Manningham Lane which, in those days, was a well-to-do, tree-lined thoroughfare to the leafier northern suburbs of the city.