Professional Documents
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t~Or t-CIRCULATH\!:
File Boo .21/3
The U. S. Ai r Service doe s not use the ti tle "Ace" in referring to those
who are credited officially with five or more victories over enemy aircraft.
It is not the policy of the Air Service to glorify one particular branch of
aer onautics, aviat ion, or aerostation at the expense of another. ·~ * *
The work of observa tion and bombardment is considered equally as
hazardous as that of Pursuit, but due to the fact tha t the Observation and
Bombardment pilots a re not called upon merely to destroy enemy aircr aft ,
it should not be allowed to ai d in establishing a popular comparison of
results merely by relative victories. - - Extract of l etter, Director of
Air Service , January 5, 1920.
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U-804,A,C.,Rev .7/22/31
EE.A:DQ,U.AR TERS ( BuJ, •
AMERIO.AH EXPF.DITIO}JARY FORCES
Franc o , Septe!Ilb~r 9, J.918,
BULLETI N,)
NO . )
1. The folloTiing ;-ri ll govorn in giving offici a l credit to aviators of
Ame rican E.F. for enemy aircraf t brought dmm .
( a ) Every onomy airpl an e _or ball oon nhich, as a r esult of a n aeria.l com-
. be.t lands or ·.falls ·:ii t:1in our orrn lin;:rn wili' be considor ed ao havi ng
boon b r ought · doTin. Every enemy e.ircra ft so de stroyed in on omy t or-
ri tory i7ill :tikewis o b0 cons idor 0d as h a ving boon brought dom1 .
(b) Enemy a irpla nes forc e d to l a nd on enemy territory as the r esult .of
combat and whi ch ma..'\;;:e nor~al· landings will not be considered as
having b een br ought dmm .
(c) In order t hat offici a l cr edit may b e given for en emy aircraft
brought domi one or moro ,;,,T itten confirma tions,in addition to the
r eports of tho comba t ant s,must b e made to the proper ' authority,by :-
( 1) Pil ots or observers who were ob servers of the combat • .
(2) . Pilots or observers who s aw on the gr ound at the point st ated
by those who cla i med the ~i-c tory , debris from suc:1 enemy a ir-
craft.
(3) · From balloon observers ,-rho ,1i tnessed the f a c ts ~
( 4 ) Ey observers _at .A.nti-aircra.H ob s erva tion p osts.
(5) From ground observers of any sort. And
( 6 ) Ey the declarat ions of enemy prisoners.
2. Enemy aircraft brought a.own and confi r me d should be credit ed to
ever y one who has contributed to t his r esult. To the pilot of mono-pla c e ma-
chines nhich have achiev ed · tlie victory; to both p ilot a nd observ:e;,r i n v ictor-
ious b i-pla ce ma chin 0s , and for airplanes carry i ng more than t ,76 i h' ·th.o · crev.r;
to the pilots and to such ob serve rs and machine gunners as may have taken
part in the combat i7i t h the en emy plane. at tho time when it was'br ought dorm .
3. The names of th e offi c e rs and men in the Air Servic e Tiho a re on ti.-
tled to official credit f or h aving brought dmm enemy a ircraft will be fur -
nished about the first a n d 15th of each r:1onth to th e s e Headquarter s .
Ey ·comma n d of Ge neral Per shing:
Official: JAMES ·; ;. Mc.A1'TDREI,
ROBERT C. DAVI S, Cllief of Staff • .
Adjut~nt General .
210 . 6 2nd Ind .
C.A .S., Arnericl;l,n E. l'., Septemb er 3 , 191 8 . - To the Chief of Staff , GHQ,.,
.American E.F.
1. It is believed. t h at no ,such .order should be published by the 1st .Army.
If authority uere grant ed by the Comma::1.ding Ge nerals .of :di.fferent Ar.mies to pub-
lish like orders t hey would in general b e somerrhat di f ferent one from t he other,
and t his ;-,ould cause con fusion. . , .'~;
2 . It is believe d t hat it would b e ~7ell to have the regulatio11s uJ1der r.hi.ch··
credit is given for bringing do11n eneh1y aircraft pub lish ed by He adquart ers .Amer-
ican E.F. ,in order that they mi ght be ' uniform f or a ll of tne. .American Forces .
3 . Su ch a sugge s ted order, ,-rhich' differs but sli ghtly .i rom t he one it 1.7as
propos e d should be i ssued by. t he 1st .Army , is a t t ached here·iri th.
2 atts . .. Mason· M. Patrick .
MMP/ a:rrr U- 804 ,A.C. ,Rev .7/22/31 Ma jor-General, IT.A.
The list herein is t bat of the nu..~oer . of enemy aircraft destroyed from the
air in combat by pil ots and obs ervers of . the U.S. Air Servi ce , A.J:,F., in the
'i"iorld ;7ar . Cognizance is talcen of only those 11 victor i es 11 actua lly confirmed by
r epor ts f:r om the British, French, · Italian Governm.::mts and Gcnere.l Orders of the
U.S. First and Second Armies.
This list does not include victories obtained by me:r.1bers of the U.S. Air
Service p rior to their becoming such whi l e in the service of Alli ed countries.
It does not include the three enemy airplanes destroyed FR.rn;i THE GROUJ:7Il
by fi r e of the 2nd and 6th U.S. Balloon Companies •
.Al1 addition of the victorie s listed herein does not furnish the number of
enemy aircraft destroyed, . due to the fact that the Air Service me thod of credit-
ing gave each person who participated in co:r.1bat one victory. Thus , if three
•.1ere concerned in one fight to the d e struction of one en:emy airplane each United
Stat.es con1batant 11ould be credited i'li th one victo ry, i:f properly confirI:Jed, but
the enemy loss would still be but one airplane~
T:1e follm:ring are the nruues of those who won 11 victories 11 a gainst enemy
airpl m.1es and balloons, with the numbers of the last squadrons of Yrhich they
rrere mer.1bers. The figures u.,.,.der the colurnn 11 .Airplanes 11 and 11 Ball oonsll repre-
sent the viG tories officially credited, that is to say, only those nhich ,crere
confirned in orders. '.:1bere a na:r.1e is marked ,1i th an asterisk ( *) it n ill be
not·ed the bearer was killed in conbat. "R~A. F, 11, 11 Ind. A~F. 11 , 11 French 11 , and
11
It a lian 11 , denote that such men of the U.S. Air Service ssrved as individual
raer.1be rs attach ed to the Royal Air Force (:British), Independent Ai r Force
(:British), French and Italian Air Services, respe ctively
- 3 U-804,A.C.,Rev,7/22/31
FIVE OR MORE: VICS:ORIES" ( COHT ' D)
Last Air- Bal -
Harne Rank organization plane s loons -
Total
--
To dd , Rob ert M.' CincLmati, Ohio 2nd Lt, 17 4 1 5
*iel'mer, Joseph Fritz, Everett, Mass. 1st Lt . 27 5 5
·,vill i ams' Rodney D., ·.vaukasha, W:i: s, 1st Lt, ·17 ·_4 1 5
FOUR VICTORIES
THREE VICTORIES
TWO VICTORIES
1 1
Hicks, Samuel C. 1st Lt: . 20 1 1
Hill, Robert E. 1st Lt. 27 1 1
Hoevel er, . William' A. 1st L:t. French 1 l
Holland, Spessard' L. Captain 24 l 1
*Hopkins, Stephens'T. 2nd Lt. 96 1 1
Hubbard, Theodore' H. 1st Lt. 103 1 1
Hume , Henry 'il. 2nd Lt. 49 1 1
Husted, Merle R. ' 2nd Lt. ·91 1 1
Irving, Livingston G. 1st Lt. 103 l 1
Jannopoule, Richard S. 2nd Lt. 91 1 1
Jenks , Henry J. 2nd Lt. 166 1 1
Johnson, Clare T; 21:i.d Lt. 20 1 1
*Jones , Eugene E. · 1st.Lt. 103 l l
Kearney, Thomas J • . 1st Lt. R.A.F. 1 1
*Keesler, Samuel R., Jr. 2nd Lt,
Kennedy , David s: · 24 l 1
1st Lt. 24 1 1
Kenyon, Hugo A. 1st Lt. 103 1 1
- 11 - .U-804,~.C. , Rev.7/22/31
Oi.IB V! CTORY ( CO~·TT ID)
Last Air- Bal-
lifo.me Ran}: organization plane~ loons Total
-- 12 - U~804 ,A.C.,Rev.7/22/31
ONE VICTORY., ..( CO:i:JTI D)
'
: .~· \ Last Ai r - Bal-
""
..;
Name Rank organization planes l oons Total
. 'MAR 2 5 20\3
Non-oepo\torv
~ubuf\'\ un,vers\\V
,·.