# Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Ball, Albert

​BALL, ALBERT (1896-1917), airman, was born at Nottingham 21 August 1896, the elder son of Sir Albert Ball, estate agent, sometime mayor of the city, by his wife, Harriet Mary Page, of Derby. He was educated at Trent College, Long Eaton, Derbyshire, where he showed himself a sensitive, conscientious boy, with a disturbing passion for collecting pistols. He left school in December 1913, and bought an interest in two engineering companies at Nottingham. On the outbreak of the European War in August 1914 he volunteered for the Nottinghamshire and Derby regiment, Territorial Force, and within two weeks of joining was promoted sergeant. He was granted his commission in October, and spent the winter in training. Chafing at the delay in getting to France, he transferred to a cyclists’ corps near Ealing, but aviation caught his fancy, and he entered at Hendon for a course of training. He had to do his flying at dawn in order to be back in camp at Ealing for the 6.0 a.m. parade. He passed out in October 1915, and went to Norwich for training as a flying officer. He was a careful rather than a brilliant pilot. He survived some serious crashes, and having completed his training at the Central Flying School, Upavon, Wiltshire, was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in January 1916, when he was sent to Gosport as instructor.
Ball flew overseas on 18 February 1916 in order to join No. 18 squadron, and spent his early days chiefly in artillery reconnaissance, which he described as ‘great sport’; but he felt the responsibility for his observer’s life. Although he was by temperament a single-seater pilot, his two-seater machine drove down, during April, two enemy aeroplanes and destroyed one. In May he was given a single-seater, from which on the 15th he destroyed his first German aeroplane. By the end of the month he was attracting notice. After a short leave in England he returned to France and joined his squadron, No. 11, ten days before the opening of the Somme ​battle (1 July). Before the battle ended the British air service had established an ascendancy over the enemy which was never afterwards lost, and Ball was the spearhead of this achievement. But the strain told on him, and on 17 July he was wisely transferred to a two-seater squadron, No. 8. On 1 August he was promoted lieutenant, and on the 15th of the same month he was back with No. 11; the next day, on his Nieuport machine, he attacked five enemy aeroplanes, destroying one and forcing two down. On 22 August, his last day with No. 11 squadron, he flew into an enemy formation of twelve machines, crashed two of them, set fire to another, returned for ammunition, attacked fourteen more, ran out of petrol, landed just clear of the trenches, slept by his machine, and flew next morning to No. 60, his new squadron. His audacity and skill were remarkable. By the end of the month he was the leading Allied pilot, and on 1 September he destroyed four more enemy machines. He was promoted captain on 13 September.
Ball's extraordinary success had a heartening effect on the British infantry. When the Somme campaign ended, he was sent home to infuse his spirit and methods into flying officers in training. He was in England from 4 October 1916 until 7 April 1917, when he flew out with No. 56 squadron, arriving for the Arras offensive which opened on 9 April. His method now was to lead his patrol on S.E. 5 (scout experimental) machines and, in addition, to go out alone on his Nieuport. On 3 May he had destroyed thirty-eight enemy machines, one more than the record of the leading French airman, Georges Guynemer. On 5 May, after shooting down two Albatross scouts, he wrote home, describing his spare time, ‘1 dig in the garden and sing.’ Two days later, 7 May 1917, Ball made his last flight. The reports are conflicting. He flew into a formation led by the German airman, Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, fought three of the enemy, and, it would seem, sent two down before he himself was hit. He was buried at Annoeullin, east of La Bassée. His posthumous Victoria cross award (June 1917) credited him with a record of forty-three aeroplanes and one balloon destroyed and a large number sent down out of control. Ball was awarded the military cross (1916), the distinguished service order with two bars (1916), the croix de guerre and legion of honour (1917), and the Russian order of St. George, fourth class (1917).
Ball was a cheerful young soldier, of gentle manners and vigilant conscience. ‘I hate this killing business,’ he wrote; but he fought with an almost religious fervour. When he was flying his aeroplane was as much a part of him as were his sensitive hands. He was the greatest fighting pilot of the air service, and his personality has contributed much to its traditions of efficiency and self-sacrifice.
[W. A. Briscoe and H. R. Stannard, Captain Ball, V.C., 1918; official records; personal knowledge.]
H. A. J.