List of World War I aces from Australia
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/AWM_P02163.016.jpg/220px-AWM_P02163.016.jpg)
The following is the list of World War I aces from Australia. During the war Australian pilots served in a range of units in the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) and in the British Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and later the Royal Air Force (RAF). Australia was the only Dominion to have its own independent air arm during the war.[1] Pilots were considered to be "aces" after they had shot down five or more enemy aircraft; 81 Australians are believed to have achieved this feat, with the highest scorer being Robert Alexander Little, who is credited with 47 air victories.
Australian WWI aces
Name | Squadron(s) | Victories | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Robert Alexander Little | No. 1 Naval Wing, No. 8 Squadron RNAS, No. 203 Squadron RAF | 47 | [2] |
Roderic Stanley Dallas | No. 1 Naval Wing, No. 1 Squadron RNAS, No. 40 Squadron RAF | 39 | [2] |
Arthur Henry Cobby | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 29 | [2] |
Elwyn Roy King | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 26 | [2] |
Alexander Augustus Pentland | No. 16 Squadron RFC, No. 29 Squadron RFC, No. 19 Squadron RFC, No. 87 Squadron RAF | 23 | [2] |
Edgar McCloughry | No. 23 Squadron RFC, No. 4 Squadron AFC | 21 | [2] |
Richard Pearman Minifie | No. 1 Naval Wing, No. 1 Squadron RNAS | 21 | [2] |
Edgar Charles Johnston | No. 24 Squadron RFC, No. 88 Squadron RAF | 20 | [2] |
Andrew King Cowper | No. 24 Squadron RAF | 19 | [2] |
Cedric Ernest Howell | No. 45 Squadron RAF | 19 | [2] |
Fred Parkinson Holliday | No. 48 Squadron RFC | 17 | [2] Australian-born; as a child, lived in UK and later moved to Canada before WW1 |
Allan Captain Hepburn | No. 24 Squadron RFC, No. 40 Squadron RFC, No. 88 Squadron RAF | 16 | [2] |
Francis Ryan Smith | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 16 | [2] |
John Rutherford Gordon | No. 62 Squadron RAF | 15 | [3] |
Roy Cecil Phillipps | No. 32 Squadron RFC, No. 2 Squadron AFC | 15 | [2] |
Arthur Coningham | No. 32 Squadron RFC, No. 92 Squadron RAF | 14 | [2] |
Herbert Gilles Watson | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 14 | [2] |
Harold Alan Hamersley | No. 60 Squadron RFC | 13 | [2] |
Eric John Stephens | No. 41 Squadron RAF | 13 | [2] |
Thomas Charles Richmond Baker | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 12 | [2] |
Raymond James Brownell | No. 45 Squadron RFC | 12 | [2] |
Roby Lewis Manuel | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 12 | [2] |
Cecil Roy Richards | No. 20 Squadron RFC | 12 | [2] |
Leonard Thomas Eaton Taplin | No. 67 Squadron RFC, No. 1 Squadron AFC, No. 4 Squadron AFC | 12 | [2] |
Henry Garnet Forrest | No. 43 Squadron RFC, No. 32 Squadron RFC, No. 2 Squadron AFC | 11 | [2] |
Geoffrey Herbert Hooper | No. 11 Squadron RFC, No. 20 Squadron RAF | 11 | [2] |
Geoffrey Forrest Hughes | No. 62 Squadron RAF | 11 | [2] |
Herbert Joseph Larkin | No. 5 Squadron RFC, No. 87 Squadron RAF | 11 | [2] |
Ross Macpherson Smith | No. 67 Squadron RFC, No. 1 Squadron AFC | 11 | [2] |
Adrian Trevor Cole | No. 1 Squadron AFC, No. 2 Squadron AFC | 10 | [2] |
Stanley James Goble | No. 1 Naval Wing, No. 8 Squadron RNAS, No. 5 Squadron RNAS, No. 205 Squadron RAF | 10 | [2] |
Alfred Seymour Shepherd | No. 29 Squadron RFC | 10 | [2] |
Eric Douglas Cummings | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 9 | [2] |
Arthur Thomas Drinkwater | No. 57 Squadron RFC, No. 40 Squadron RAF | 9 | [2] |
Richard Watson Howard | No. 68 Squadron RFC, No. 57 Squadron RFC, No. 2 Squadron AFC | 9 | [2] |
Gregory Hamilton Blaxland | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 8 | [2] |
Clive Alexander Brewster-Joske | No. 1 Squadron RFC, No. 46 Squadron RFC | 8 | [2] |
Roy Maxwell Drummond | No. 67 Squadron RFC, No. 111 Squadron RFC | 8 | [2] |
Garfield Finlay | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 8 | [4] |
George Clifton Peters | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 8 | [2] |
Richard Watson Howard | No. 57 Squadron RFC, No. 68 Squadron RFC, No. 2 Squadron AFC | 8 | [5] |
George Goodman Simpson | No. 8 Squadron RNAS | 8 | [6] |
Leslie Sutherland | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 8 | [7] |
Frank Alberry | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 7 | [2] |
Thomas Henry Barkell | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 7 | [2] |
Ernest Edgar Davies | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 7 | [2] |
George Jones | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 7 | [2] |
Edward Patrick Kenney | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 7 | [2] |
Walter Kirk | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 7 | [8] |
Paul Joseph McGinness | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 7 | [2] |
Arthur John Palliser | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 7 | [2] |
George Clifton Peters | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 7 | [9] |
Lancelot Lytton Richardson | No. 25 Squadron RFC | 7 | [2] |
Albert Ernest Robertson | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 7 | [2] |
Charles Owen Stone | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 7 | [10] |
Norman Charles Trescowthick | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 7 | [2] |
George H. D. Gossip | No. 4 Squadron RNAS | 6 | [11] |
John Hay | No. 40 Squadron RFC | 6 | [2] |
Philip Andrew Johnston | No. 8 Squadron RNAS | 6 | [12] |
George Alexander Lingham | No. 43 Squadron RAF | 6 | [2] |
Garnet Francis Malley | No. 4 Squadron AFC | 6 | [2] |
Robert William McKenzie | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 6 | [2] |
Harry Alexander Rigby | No. 40 Squadron RFC, No. 1 Squadron RAF | 6 | [2] |
Eric Landon Simonson | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 6 | [2] |
Claud Robert James Thompson | No. 19 Squadron RFC | 6 | [2] |
Albert Tonkin | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 6 | [13] |
James Hamilton Traill | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 6 | [14] |
William James Alexander Weir | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 6 | [15] |
James Joseph Wellwood | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 6 | [2] |
Allan Runciman Brown | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 5 | [2] |
Alexander Clark | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 5 | [2] |
George Cox | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 5 | [2] |
Sydney Dalrymple | No. 24 Squadron RFC, No. 27 Squadron RFC, No. 139 Squadron RAF | 5 | [16] |
Herbert James Edwards | No. 32 Squadron RFC, No. 92 Squadron RFC | 5 | [2] |
Wilmot Hudson Fysh | No. 1 Squadron AFC, No. 67 Squadron RAF | 5 | [17] |
Walter Irving Newby Grant | No. 88 Squadron RFC | 5 | [13] |
Eustace Headlam | No. 1 Squadron RFC, No. 2 Squadron RFC, No. 67 Squadron AFC | 5 | [18] |
Les Holden | No. 2 Squadron AFC | 5 | [2] |
Ernest Mustard | No. 1 Squadron AFC | 5 | [19] |
Patrick Gordon Taylor | No. 66 Squadron RFC | 5 | [20] |
John Seymour Turnbull | No. 56 Squadron RFC, No. 41 Squadron RAF | 5 | [21] |
See also
Notes
- ^ McGibbon 2000, p. 7.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi Newton 1996, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Franks et al, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Franks et al, p. 9.
- ^ Shores et al, 1997, p. 200.
- ^ Shores et al 1990, p. 339.
- ^ Franks et al, 1997, p. 47.
- ^ Franks et al, 1997, p. 29.
- ^ Shores et al 1990, p. 302.
- ^ Shores et al 1990, p. 353.
- ^ Shores et al 1990, p. 173.
- ^ Shores et al 1990, p. 214.
- ^ a b Morgan, Gareth (12 November 2021). "The Fighter Aces from Australia" (PDF). By the Seat of their Pants: The Proceedings of the Conference Held at the RAAF Museum Point Cook. Military History and Heritage Victoria. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ Franks et al 1997, p. 50.
- ^ Shores et al 1990, p. 56.
- ^ Franks et al 1997, pp. 132–133.
- ^ Franks et al 1997, p. 9.
- ^ Franks et al 1990, p. 191.
- ^ Shores et al 1997, p. 38.
- ^ Franks 2012, p. 36.
- ^ "Turnbull, John Semour". Virtual War Memorial. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
References
- Franks, Norman; Guest, Russel; Alegi, Gregory (1997). Above the War Fronts: The British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and the Belgian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914–1918. Volume 4 of Fighting Airmen of WWI Series: Volume 4 of Air Aces of WWI. Oxford: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-898697-56-5.
- Franks, Norman (2012). Sopwith Pup Aces of World War I. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-78200-727-2.
- McGibbon, Ian, ed. (2000). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History. Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-558376-0.
- Newton, Dennis (1996). Australian Air Aces: Australian Fighter Pilots in Combat. Fyshwick, Australian Capital Territory: Aerospace Publications. ISBN 1-875671-25-0.
- Shores, Christopher; Franks, Norman; Guest, Russell (1990). Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-0-948817-19-9.
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