James McCudden: Britain's Red Barron

[Oneto15]

I came across this article recently and I thought it was worth sharing.

James McCudden RFC. VC. MC & Bar. DSO & Bar. MM.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1161360/The-incredible-story-Britains-red-baron-He-air-ace-57-kills--war-chiefs-way-wed-heard-him.html

[Cormorant]

It's an interesting article in some ways, but in true Daily Mail style (never let the facts get in the way of a story) there's quite a bit wrong with it.

McCudden wasn't the first British air ace by a long way. Albert Ball had 17 victories before McCudden had shot down his first enemy aircraft, for instance.

One of the reasons the RFC hierarchy - not faceless bureaucrats in Whitehall - decided against publicising names was because of the fear that a pilot might become so renouned that their death in action would have an adverse affect on morale - which was proven to be a reasonable fear after Richthofen's death. It's also held by some historians that the publicity McCudden recieved made his brother John (also a pilot) feel somewhat inadequate, with the end result that he became far too impetuous in his bid to keep up with his older sibling and was killed as a result of taking too many risks.

Also, there was a fear, similar to that today, that if the enemy captured a VC, he might be treated badly - which is exactly what happened to William Leefe Robinson VC when he was shot down in 1917; he was a national hero already as a result of the VC gained when shooting down the first Zeppelin to be destroyed over the UK.

Unless there's been some recent research which says that Richthofen shot down two more aircraft than even he thought he had, you'd have hoped that they might have managed to get his score right, too...

[Eoin666]

Surely you have to go for Mannock as the British Red Baron although he'd probably hate that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Mannock


This is interesting, list of WWI aces, 4 Canadians in the top 12

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_I_flying_aces_by_number_of_victories

[TheKiwi]

This is interesting, list of WWI aces, 4 Canadians in the top 12

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_I_flying_aces_by_number_of_victories

Nothing unusual in that. The Canadian's spent 4 x the amount the UK did on training their pilots. More than 40% of RFC deaths were training deaths, and it is suspected (but can't be proven for another 9 years- 100 years rule, Offical Secrets Act and all that) that the RAF/RFC carefully adjusted the figures of German aircraft shot down to show that more Germans had died than Empire pilots. According to the official figurs 80% of German losses to Empire forces took place in the last 10 months of 1918!

[LineDoggie]

It's also held by some historians that the publicity McCudden recieved made his brother John (also a pilot) feel somewhat inadequate, with the end result that he became far too impetuous in his bid to keep up with his older sibling and was killed as a result of taking too many risks.

True to an extent. If you ever read about Richard Bong and Tommy McGuire in the Pacific, the level of one upsmanship from McGuire was intense. He wound up getting killed by trying a Manuever in his P-38 with the full droptanks still in place and stalled, snap rolled and crashed


He Had to get that last Zeke to showup Bong (who'd been sent home)

He didnt get it

[baboon6]

Nothing unusual in that. The Canadian's spent 4 x the amount the UK did on training their pilots. More than 40% of RFC deaths were training deaths, and it is suspected (but can't be proven for another 9 years- 100 years rule, Offical Secrets Act and all that) that the RAF/RFC carefully adjusted the figures of German aircraft shot down to show that more Germans had died than Empire pilots. According to the official figurs 80% of German losses to Empire forces took place in the last 10 months of 1918!

Except that Bishop, Collishaw and Barker did all their flying training in the UK with the RFC or RNAS, which would have been no different to anyone elses. The same applies to many of the other Canadians on that list. McLaren was partially trained in Canada, as were some others.

[Rudolph]

http://www.wwiaviation.com/aces/ace_Gilmour.html

James Gilmour (Scotland):

With 3 victories each, both Gilmour and the South African ace Douglas Bell achieved the highest scores of the war while flying Martinsyde Elephants.

South Africa's highest-scoring ace (http://www.wwiaviation.com/aces/ace_Beauchamp_Proctor.shtml).

[skipperbob]

For my money Mick Mannock was the greatest British ace of the war. Fascinating man with a burning hatred for the hun and yet a tremendous flight and squadron leader who spent a great deal of time helpling young pilots get used to combat. It was said by many men who flew with him that he would set up a kill and then let a novice pilot shoot it down and that he even gave kills that he had scored to other pilots to boost their morale. Unlike many of the aces of that era he cared nothing about kill totals, just killing as many enemy as he could!