Aircraft

by Evan John David

THE SIXTY-FOUR AMERICAN ACES

The following official list gives the status of the sixty-four American aces—that is, aviators who had each downed five or more enemies by the time hostilities ceased:

Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker of Columbus, Ohio, famous as an automobile driver, was the premier “Ace” of the American air force in France, having twenty-six enemy planes to his credit.

First Lieutenant Frank Luke, Jr., of Phœnix, Ariz., who was killed in action May 19, 1918, was second on the list of “Aces,” with eighteen victories to his credit, and Major Victor Raoul Lufbery of Wallingford, Conn., also killed in action May 19, 1918, was third, with seventeen victories. Before joining the American Army, Major Lufbery was a member of the Lafayette Escadrille.

Captain Reed G. Landis of Chicago, son of Judge Landis, and First Lieutenant David E. Putnam, of Brookline, Mass., who was killed in action, had twelve victories each. The other “Aces,” with the number of victories credited to each, follow:

• First Lieutenant Fields Kinley, Gravette, Ark., 10.
• First Lieutenant G. A. Vaughn, Jr., 341 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, 10.
• First Lieutenant J. M. Swaab, Philadelphia, 10.
• First Lieutenant T. G. Cassady, 9.
• First Lieutenant C. E. Wright, Cambridge, Mass., 9.
• First Lieutenant W. P. Erwin, Chicago, 9.
• Captain E. W. Springs, Lancaster, Penn., 9.
• First Lieutenant H. R. Clay, Jr., Fort Worth, Texas, 8.
• Major J. A. Meissner, 45 Lenox Road, Brooklyn, N. Y., 8.
• Captain Hamilton Coolidge (deceased), Boston, Mass., 8.
• Captain G. De F. Larner, Washington, D. C., 8.
• First Lieutenant P. F. Baer, Fort Wayne, Ind., 8 (captured May 22, 1918).
• First Lieutenant F. O. D. Hunter, Savannah, Ga., 8.
• First Lieutenant W. W. White, 541 Lexington Avenue, New York City, 8.
• Second Lieutenant Clinton Jones, San Francisco, Cal., 8.
• Captain R. M. Chambers, Memphis, Tenn., 7.
• First Lieutenant Harvey Cook, Toledo, Ohio, 7.
• First Lieutenant L. C. Holden, 103 Park Avenue, New York City, 7.
• First Lieutenant K. H. Schoen (deceased), Indianapolis, Ind., 7.
• First Lieutenant W. A. Robertson, Fort Smith, Ark., 7.
• First Lieutenant L. J. Rummell, 798 South 11th Street, Newark, N. J., 7.
• First Lieutenant L. A. Hamilton (deceased), Burlington, Vt., or Pittsfield, Mass., 7.
• First Lieutenant J. O. Creech, Washington, D. C., 6.
• Second Lieutenant Howard Burdick, 175 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., 6.
• First Lieutenant C. L. Bissell, Kane, Penn., 6.
• Major H. E. Hartney, Saskatoon, Canada, 6.
• Captain Douglass Campbell, Mount Hamilton, Cal., 6.
• Captain J. C. Vasconcelles, Denver, Col., 6.
• Captain E. G. Tobin, San Antonio, Texas, 6.
• First Lieutenant E. P. Curtis, Rochester, N. Y., 6.
• First Lieutenant Sumner Sewell, no address, 6.
• First Lieutenant R. A. O’Neill, Nogales, Ariz., 6.
• First Lieutenant Donald Hudson, Kansas City, Mo., 6.
• First Lieutenant M. K. Guthrie, Mobile, Ala., 6.
• First Lieutenant W. H. Stovall, Stovall, Miss., 6.
• First Lieutenant J. D. Beane (missing in action), 6.
• First Lieutenant A. R. Brooks, Framingham, Mass., 6.
• First Lieutenant R. O. Lindsay, Madison, N. C., 6.
• First Lieutenant Martinus Stenseth, Twin City, Minn., 6.
• Second Lieutenant F. K. Hays, Chicago, Ill., 6.
• First Lieutenant H. C. Klotts, no address, 5.
• Lieutenant-Colonel William Thaw, Pittsburgh, Penn., 5.
• Major D. McK. Peterson, Honesdale, Penn., 5.
• Captain H. R. Buckley, Agawam, Mass., 5.
• Major C. J. Biddle, Philadelphia, Penn., 5.
• First Lieutenant James Knowles, Cambridge, Mass., 5.
• First Lieutenant J. A. Healey, Jersey City, N. J., 5.
• First Lieutenant Innis Potter, no address, 5.
• First Lieutenant F. M. Symonds, 20 West 8th Street, New York City, 5.
• First Lieutenant J. F. Wehner (deceased), 124 East 28th Street, New York, 5.
• First Lieutenant J. J. Sereley, Chicago, 5.
• First Lieutenant E. M. Haight, Astoria, N. Y., 5.
• First Lieutenant H. H. George, Niagara Falls, N. Y., 5.
• First Lieutenant G. W. Furlow, Rochester, Minn., 5.
• First Lieutenant A. E. Esterbrook, Fort Flagler, Wash., 5.
• First Lieutenant B. V. Baucom, Milford, Texas, 5.
• Second Lieutenant Harold McArthur, no address, 5.
• Second Lieutenant J. S. Owens, Baltimore, 5.
• Second Lieutenant J. O. Donaldson, Washington, D. C., 5.

OTHER AMERICANS WHO ARE CREDITED WITH
BRINGING DOWN ONE OR MORE
PLANES

• Lieutenant Frank L. Baylies, New Bedford, Mass. (killed June 20, 1918, in the British Air Service), 12.
• Adjutant E. C. Parsons, Springfield, Mass., 4.
• Lieutenant H. Clay Ferguson, wounded March 12, 1918, 4.
• Captain J. Norman Hall, Lafayette Escadrille and A. E. F., Colfax, Ia., wounded and captured, May 7, 1918, 4.
• Lieutenant Joseph C. Stehlin, Lafayette Escadrille, Brooklyn, N. Y., 3.
• Lieutenant Norman Prince (organizer of Lafayette Escadrille), Beverly Farms, Mass., killed October 15, 1916, 3.
• Lieutenant Kiffin Yates Rockwell, Lafayette Escadrille, Asheville, N.C., killed September 23, 1916, 4.
• Lieutenant Walter Rheno, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., 3.
• Lieutenant Walter Lovell, Lafayette Escadrille, Concord, Mass., 3.
• Lieutenant Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., Lafayette Escadrille, Roslyn, N. Y., captured March 10, 1918. He escaped later. 3.
• Lieutenant Bert Hall, Lafayette Escadrille, Bowling Green, Ky., retired December, 1916, 3.
• George Turnure, Lenox, Mass., third on July 17, 1918, 3.
• Lieutenant Hugh Dugan, Chicago, Royal Flying Corps, captured April 6, 1918, 2.
• Lieutenant G. de Freest Larner, Washington, D. C., 2.
• Lieutenant Andrew C. Campbell, Chicago, missing, 2.
• Captain Phelps Collins, Detroit, killed March 18, 1918, 2.
• Lieutenant Didier Masson, New York, Lafayette Escadrille, 2.
• Christopher Ford, New York, 2.
• Lieutenant W. A. Wellman, Cambridge, Mass., 2.
• Sergeant James E. Connelly, Philadelphia, Pa., 2.
• Sergeant Victor Chapman, Lafayette Escadrille, killed June 23, 1916, 2.
• Sergeant Vernon Booth, Chicago, 2.
• Sergeant Austin B. Crehore, Westfield, New York, 1.
• Lieutenant Willis Haviland, Minneapolis, Minn., 1.
• Lieutenant Harry Sweet Jones, Hartford, Pa., 1.
• Lieutenant Charles C. Johnson, St. Louis, Mo., 1.
• Captain Robert L. Rockwell, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1.
• Lieutenant Stuart Walcott, Washington, killed December 14, 1917, 1.
• Lieutenant Alan F. Winslow, Rive Forest, Ill., 1.
• Lieutenant Edgar Tobin, San Antonio, on July 11, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Charles T. Merrick, Eldora, Iowa, 1.
• Lieutenant Alexander O. Craig, New York, in Italy, on July 5, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Sumner Sewell, Bath, Me., above Toul, on June 3, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant William J. Hoover, Hartsville, S. C., on July 2, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Alfred A. Grant, Denton, Texas, on July 2, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant John McArthur, Buffalo, N. Y., on July 2, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Tyler Cook Bronson, New York, on July 1, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Charles W. Chapman on May 8, 1918. Both he and victim fell in flames, 1.
• Captain Kenneth Marr, on May 15, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Henry Grendelass, 1.
• Lieutenant Edward Buford, Jr., Nashville, Tenn., on May 22, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant William H. Taylor, New York, on May 21, 1918, 1.
• Ensign Stephen Potter, Boston, Mass., killed April 25, 1918, 1.
• Lieutenant Walter Avery, Columbus, Ohio, brought down and captured Captain Menckhoff, the German ace, who had 34 victories on July 25, 1918, 1.

CITATIONS AND DECORATIONS OF MEMBERS
OF THE U. S. ARMY AIR SERVICE

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS