List of World War I aces from Canada

This is a list of flying aces in World War I from Canada. A flying ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. Canadians served in the British flying services–the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service, and the Royal Air Force, as Canada had no air arm until the formation of the Canadian Air Force on September 19, 1918.

For a master list of victories during the conflict, see List of World War I flying aces.

Canadian World War I aces

More than 10 victories

Billy Bishop
Raymond Collishaw
"Wop" May

  This indicates that the pilot was either killed in action or killed in a flying accident.

Name Rank Victories Unit(s) Notes
Billy Bishop Lieutenant Colonel 72 21, 60, 85 VC (1894–1956)
Raymond Collishaw Lieutenant Colonel 60 10N, 13N, 3W (RNAS); 47, 203 (RAF) (1893–1976)
Donald Roderick MacLaren Major 54 46 (1893–1988)
William George Barker Major 50 4, 9, 15, 28, 66 (RFC); 139, 201 (RAF) VC DSO MC. Killed in aircraft accident 1930
Alfred Clayburn Atkey Captain 38 18, 22 (1894–1971)
William Gordon Claxton Captain 37 41
Joseph Stewart Temple Fall Flight Commander 36 3N, 9N (RNAS)
Frederick Robert Gordon McCall Captain 35 13, 41
Frank Granger Quigley Captain 33 70
Andrew Edward McKeever Lieutenant Colonel 31 11
Albert Desbrisay Carter Major 28 19
Reginald Hoidge Captain 28 1, 56
Clifford MacKay McEwen Lieutenant 27 28
Frank Ormond Soden Captain 27 41, 60
Arthur Whealy Captain 27 3N, 9N, 3W (RNAS); 203 (RAF)
William McKenzie Thomson Captain 26 20
Stanley Wallace Rosevear Captain 25 1 Naval (RNAS); 201 (RAF)
William Ernest Shields Captain 24 41
William Melville Alexander Captain 22 10N, 3W (RNAS); 210 (RAF)
Joseph Leonard Maries White Captain 22 65
Harold Leslie Edwards 2nd Lieutenant 21 20
Charles Hickey Captain 21 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF)
Kenneth Burns Conn Lieutenant 20 88
Camille Lagesse Captain 20 29
Arthur Bradfield Fairclough Captain 19 19, 23
Ellis Vair Reid Flight Sub Lieutenant 19 3W; 10N
George Chisholm MacKay Captain 18 13N (RNAS); 213 (RAF)
Alfred Williams Carter Major 17 3N, 10N, 3W (RNAS); 210 (RAF)
Stearne Tighe Edwards Captain 17 2N, 6N, 9N, 11N; 3W (RNAS); 209 (RAF)
Carl Frederick Falkenberg Captain 17 84
Gerald Gordon Bell Captain 16 17, 22, 47 (RFC); 150 (RAF)
Henry John Burden Captain 16 56, 72, 85
James Alpheus Glen Captain 15 3N, 10N (RNAS); 203 (RAF)
John Edmund Greene Captain 15 13N (RNAS); 213 (RAF)
Carleton Main Clement Captain 14 22
Albert Earl Godfrey Captain 14 10, 25, 40, 44, 78
John Victor Sorsoleil Captain 14 84
George Thomson Lieutenant 14 22
Hazel LeRoy Wallace Captain 14 9N (RNAS); 3, 201 (RAF)
Thomas Frederic Williams Captain 14 28, 45 Founding member of RCAF; elected to Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame
Frederick Carr Armstrong Flight Commander 13 3N; 3W (RNAS)
Wilfred Austin Curtis Flight Commander 13 6N, 10N Elected to Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame
George Robert Howsam Captain 13 43, 70 Retired as Air Vice-Marshal of RCAF
Ernest Charles Hoy Captain 13 29 Made the first airmail flight over the Canadian Rockies 7 August 1919
Harold Byrn Hudson Lieutenant 13 28, 45
Ronald McNeill Keirstead Captain 13 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF)
John Gerald Manuel Captain 13 10N, 12N (RNAS); 210 (RAF)
Wilfrid Reid May Captain 13 209
Stanley Stanger Captain 13 28, 66
Gerald Alfred Birks Lieutenant 12 66
Edwin Claude Bromley Lieutenant 12 22
William Leeming Harrison Captain 12 1, 40
William Henry Hubbard Captain 12 5, 7, 73
Gordon Budd Irving Captain 12 19
William Stanley Jenkins Captain 12 210 (RAF)
Roy Manzer Captain 12 84
Douglas McGregor Captain 12 23
Henry Coyle Rath Lieutenant 12 29
Alexander MacDonald Shook Major 12 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF)
William Samuel Stephenson Captain 12 73 Head of British Intelligence in the Western Hemisphere during World War II
Melville Wells Waddington Lieutenant 12 20
James Butler White Captain 12 8N (RNAS); 208 (RAF)
Fred Everest Banbury Captain 11 9N (RNAS)
Arnold Jacques Chadwick Flight Commander 11 4N, 5W (RNAS)
Hiram Frank Davison Lieutenant 11 22
Art Duncan Captain 11 60
Charles D. B. Green Lieutenant 11 47 (RFC); 150 (RAF)
William Roy Irwin Captain 11 56
Mansell Richard James Captain 11 45
George Owen Johnson Captain 11 24, 84
Harold Anthony Oaks Captain 11 48 Elected to Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame
Hilliard Brooke Bell Captain 10 66
Lloyd Samuel Breadner Major 10 3W, 3N (RNAS); 204 (RAF) Air Chief Marshal Breadner achieved the highest rank ever awarded in the RCAF
Arthur Roy Brown Captain 10 4N, 9N, 11N (RNAS); 209 (RAF) Credited with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron)
Frederick Elliott Brown Captain 10 2, 84
Robert Dodds Captain 10 48
Alfred Michael Koch Lieutenant 10 1, 6, 70
John Joseph Malone Flight Sub-Lieutenant 10 3N, 3W (RNAS)
Alfred Edwin McKay Captain 10 23, 24
Guy Borthwick Moore Captain 10 1
Frank Harold Taylor Lieutenant 10 41, 84
John Henry Tudhope Captain 10 40

Fewer than 10 victories

Name Rank Victories Unit(s) Notes
Bernard Paul Gascoigne Beanlands Captain 9 24, 70
William Henry Brown Lieutenant 9 84
George William Bulmer Captain 9 22
Leonard Arthur Christian Lieutenant 9 6N (RNAS); 206 (RAF)
Richard Jeffries Dawes Captain 9 28, 45
Roger Amedee Del'Haye Captain 9 13, 19
George Clapham Dixon Captain 9 40, 43, 85
James Henry Forman Captain 9 1N, 6N (RNAS); 70, 201 (RAF)
Acheson Goulding Captain 9 17 (RFC); 150 (RAF)
Harold Spencer Kerby Captain 9 3N, 9N, 3W (RNAS); Walmer HD
David MacKay McGoun Captain 9 20, 22
William Wendell Rogers Captain 9 1
Ernest James Salter Captain 9 54
Anthony George Allen Spence Lieutenant 9 1N (RNAS); 201 (RAF)
Louis Mark Thompson Lieutenant 9 62
Kenneth Bowman Watson Lieutenant 9 28, 70
William Benson Craig Lieutenant 8 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF)
John Dartnell De Pencier Captain 8 19 (RFC); 12 (RAF)
William Durrand, Jr. Lieutenant 8 20
Austin Lloyd Fleming Captain 8 46, 111
D'Arcy Fowlis Hilton Lieutenant 8 29
Ernest Graham Joy Major 8 49, 57 (RFC); 205 (RAF)
Kenneth William Junor Captain 8 56
Arthur Gerald Knight Captain 8 4, 24, 29 Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron)'s 13th victim.
William Myron MacDonald Lieutenant 8 66
Reginald George Malcolm Captain 8 25
George Ivan Douglas Marks Lieutenant 8 23
Roderick McDonald Captain 8 8N (RNAS); 208 (RAF)
William Jackson Rutherford Captain 8 60
John Edward Sharman Flight Commander 8 3W, 10N
John Henry Smith Lieutenant 8 46
Langley Frank Willard Smith Flight Sub-lieutenant 8 4N (RNAS)
Alexander Gordon Tyrrell Lieutenant 8 73
Claude Melnot Wilson Lieutenant 8 25, 29, 93
Alan Duncan Bell-Irving Captain 7 7, 60
Thomas James Birmingham Lieutenant 7 22
Cecil Guelph Brock Lieutenant 7 1N, 9N (RNAS); 3, 209 (RAF)
David Luther Burgess Lieutenant 7 25
Lynn Campbell Captain 7 62
Ernest Francis Hartley Davis Lieutenant 7 41
Clennell Haggerston Dickins 2nd Lieutenant 7 211 Named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935, an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1968
Conway Farrell Captain 7 24, 56
George Buchanan Foster Lieutenant 7 24 Named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1946
Eric Charlton Gilroy Lieutenant 7 11
William Carrall Hilborn Captain 7 28, 45, 66
Jeffrey Batters Home-Hay Captain 7 53, 104
Arthur Jarvis Lieutenant 7 17 (RFC); 150 (RAF)
Archie Nathaniel Jenks Lieutenant 7 20
Harold Waddell Joslyn Lieutenant 7 20
Alfred Alexander Leitch Captain 7 43, 65
Malcolm Plaw MacLeod Lieutenant 7 41
Roy Kirkwood McConnell Lieutenant 7 46
Ernest Morrow Captain 7 62
John Albert Page Flight Lieutenant 7 3N, 10N
Stanley Asa Puffer Lieutenant 7 41
Lewis Hector Ray Lieutenant 7 19
Emerson Smith Lieutenant 7 45 Shot down by Joachim von Busse of Jasta 3 on 26 October 1917, captured.
Merrill Samuel Taylor Lieutenant 7 9N (RNAS); 209 (RAF)
Percival Ewart Appleby Lieutenant 6 104
Henry Gordon Clappison Captain 6 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF)
Irving Banfield Corey 2nd Lieutenant 6 103
Earl Frederick Crabb Lieutenant 6 92
John Elmer Drummond Captain 6 22, 48
Herbert Howard Snowden Fowler Lieutenant 6 8N, 12N (RNAS); 208 (RAF) Discharged from the RAF when it was determined that he was almost completely deaf.
Daniel Murray Bayne Galbraith Captain 6 8N, 1W
Ernest Tilton Sumpter Kelly 2nd Lieutenant 6 1
Earl Stanley Meek Captain 6 29
Norman Craig Millman Captain 6 48
Gerald Ewart Nash Flight Lieutenant 6 10N Shot down by Karl Allmenröder of Jasta 11, captured
Medley Kingdon Parlee 2nd Lieutenant 6 22
William Keith Swayze Lieutenant 6 62
Harry Lutz Symons Captain 6 65
Victor Wentworth Thompson Lieutenant 6 43, 64
George Leonard Trapp Flight Sub-Lieutenant 6 10N
Harry Ellis Watson Lieutenant 6 41
Harry Alison Wood Major 6 24
George Benson Anderson Flight Lieutenant 5 3N, 3W (RNAS)
Louis Drummond Bawlf Captain 5 3N (RNAS); 203 (RAF)
George Walker Blaiklock Lieutenant 5 45
William Otway Boger Captain 5 11, 56, 92
Edward Borgfeldt Booth Lieutenant 5 70
William Eric Bottrill 2nd Lieutenant 5 104
Harry Neville Compton Lieutenant 5 23
John Bonnicher Crompton Captain 5 60
Lumsden Cummings Captain 5 1
Chester Stairs Duffus Major 5 22, 25
Edward Carter Eaton Lieutenant 5 65
William Boyd Elliott Captain 5 103 (RFC); 205 (RAF)
Sydney Emerson Ellis Flight Sub-lieutenant 5 4N (RNAS)
George William Gladstone Gauld Lieutenant 5 74
John Gordon Gillanders Lieutenant 5 18, 103
William John Gillespie Lieutenant 5 41
Edward Rochfort Grange Flight Lieutenant 5 8N, 1W (RNAS); 208 (RAF)
Hugh Bradford Griffith Captain 5 11, 20, 48
John Playford Hales Captain 5 9N (RNAS); 203 (RAF)
Joseph Eskel Hallonquist Captain 5 28
Earl McNabb Hand Captain 5 45, 71, 73 Shot down and captured on 1 June 1918
Conrad Tolendal Lally Captain 5 25
Robert Hazen Little Lieutenant 5 20, 48
Ross Morrison MacDonald Lieutenant 5 15, 87 Shot down and captured on 29 September 1918
John Finlay Noel MacRae Lieutenant 5 23
Patrick Sarsfield Manley 2nd Lieutenant 5 62 Shot down and captured on 27 September 1918
William Drummond Matheson Captain 5 25
John Harry McNeaney Captain 5 79 Only Canadian ace in 79 Squadron
Russell Fern McRae Lieutenant 5 4 (AFC); 46 (RFC)
Harold Arthur Sydney Molyneux Lieutenant 5 56, 60
Harold Edgar Mott Captain 5 9N (RNAS)
Redford Henry Mulock Colonel 5 3N, 1W, 82W First Canadian and first RNAS ace of the war
John Edwardes Pugh Captain 5 25
John Bernard Russell 2nd Lieutenant 5 103
James Robert Smith 2nd Lieutenant 5 18, 33, 51, 78
George Arthur Welsh Lieutenant 5 210 (RAF)
Robert Kenneth Whitney Lieutenant 5 60

See also

References