Lanoe Hawker Lanoe George Hawker VC , DSO ( 30 December 1890 – 23 November 1916 ) was a British flying ace , with seven credited victories , during the First World War . He was the first British flying ace , and the third pilot to receive the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . He was killed in a dog fight with the legendary German ace Manfred von Richthofen ( " The Red Baron " ) . Early life . Son of a distinguished military family , Hawker was born on 30 December 1890 at Longparish , Hampshire , England . Lanoe was sent to Stubbington House School and at the age of 11 to the Royal Navy College in Dartmouth , but although highly intelligent and an enthusiastic sportsman , his grades were disappointing . As a naval career became more unlikely , he entered The Royal Military Academy in Woolwich before joining the Royal Engineers , as an officer cadet . A clever inventor , Hawker developed a keen interest in all mechanical and engineering developments . During the summer of 1910 he saw a film featuring the Wright Flyer and after attending an aircraft flying display at Bournemouth , he quickly found an interest in aviation , learning to fly at his own expense at Hendon . On 4 March 1913 , Hawker was awarded Aviator ' s Certificate No . 435 by the Royal Aero Club . Promoted to 1st Lieutenant in October 1913 he was posted Cork Harbour with the 33rd Fortress Company . His request for attachment to the Royal Flying Corps was granted and he reported to the Central Flying School at Upavon on 1 August 1914 . With the RFC . Hawker was posted to France in October 1914 , as a Captain with No . 6 Squadron , Royal Flying Corps , flying Henri Farman s . The squadron converted to the B . E . 2c and he undertook numerous reconnaissance missions into 1915 , being wounded once by ground fire . On 22 April he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for attacking a German zeppelin shed at Gontrode by dropping hand grenade s at low level ( below 200 ft ) from his B . E . 2c . He used a tethered German balloon to help shield him from enemy ground fire as he made successive attacks . During the Second Battle of Ypres , Hawker was wounded in the foot by ground fire . For the remainder of the battle he had to be carried to and from his aircraft , but refused to be grounded until the fight was over . Returning to 6 Squadron after hospitalization , the squadron now received several single seat scouts , and some early F . E . 2 ' pushers ' . One aircraft received was a Bristol Scout that Hawker , with assistance from Air Mechanic Ernest Elton , equipped with their design of Lewis gun mount , enabling the machine gun to fire forward obliquely at an angle , missing the propeller arc . Hawker ' s innovative ideas at this time greatly benefited the still fledgling RFC . He helped to invent the Prideaux disintegrating link machine - gun belt feed , and initiated the practice of putting fabric protective coverings on the tips of wooden propellers , the use of fur - lined thigh boots , and devising a primitive ' rocking fuselage ' for target practice on the ground . In 1916 he also developed ( with W . L . French ) the increased capacity 97 - round ' double drum ' for the Lewis Machine gun . It was issued for trials in July and after modifications was issued generally to the RFC and RNAS . Victoria Cross . Following an initial air victory in June , on 25 July 1915 when on patrol over Passchendaele , Captain Hawker attacked three German aircraft in succession , flying Bristol Scout C , serial No . 1611 . The first , after he had emptied a complete drum of bullets from his aircraft ' s single Lewis machine gun into it , went spinning down . The second was driven to the ground damaged , and the third – an Albatros C . I of FFA 3 – which he attacked at a height of about 10 , 000 feet , burst into flames and crashed . ( Pilot Oberleutnant Uebelacker and observer Hauptmann Roser were both killed . ) For this feat he was awarded the Victoria Cross . This particular sortie was just one of the many which Captain Hawker undertook during almost a year of constant operational flying and fighting . He claimed at least 3 more victories in August 1915 , either in the Scout or flying an F . E . 2 . Hawker was posted back to England in late 1915 , with some 7 victory claims ( inc . 1 captured , 3 destroyed , 1 ' out of control ' and 1 ' forced to land ' ) making him the first British flying ace , and a figure of considerable fame within the ranks of the RFC . It has since been argued that shooting down three aircraft in one mission was a feat repeated several times by later pilots , and whether Hawker deserved his Victoria Cross has been questioned . However , in the context of the air war of mid - 1915 it was unusual to shoot down even one aircraft , and the VC was awarded on the basis that all the enemy planes were armed with machine guns . More significantly , by the summer of 1915 , the German Feldflieger Abteilung two - seater observation units of the future Luftstreitkräfte , had by this time , received examples of the Fokker Eindecker monoplane , with one Eindecker going to each unit , with a machine gun fitted with a " synchronization gear " that prevented the bullets from striking the propeller . The first claim using this arrangement , though unconfirmed by the German Army , was by " Leutnant " Kurt Wintgens on 1 July 1915 , some over Luneville distant from where Hawker had his three - victory success nearly a month later . Therefore , the German pilots like Wintgens and " Leutnant " Otto Parschau , another pioneering Eindecker pilot , could employ the simple combat tactic of aiming the whole aircraft , and presenting a small target to the enemy while approaching from any angle , preferably from a blind spot where the enemy observer could not return fire . Hawker flew before Britain had any workable synchronizer gear , so his Bristol Scout had its machine gun mounted on the left side of the cockpit , firing forwards and sideways at a 45 degree angle to avoid the propeller . The only direction from which he could attack an enemy was from its right rear quarter — precisely in a direction from which it was easy for the observer to fire at him . Thus , in each of the three attacks , Hawker was directly exposed to the fire of an enemy machine gun . First Fighter Squadron . Promoted to Major early in 1916 Hawker was placed in command of the RFC ' s first ( single seater ) fighter squadron , Number 24 based at Hounslow Heath Aerodrome and flying the Airco DH . 2 pusher . After two fatalities in recent flying accidents , the new fighter soon earned a reputation for spinning ; its rear mounted rotary engine and sensitive controls made it very responsive . Hawker countered this worry by taking a DH . 2 up over the Squadron base and , in front of the Squadron pilots , put the aircraft through a series of spins , each time recovering safely . After landing he carefully described to all pilots the correct procedures to recover from a spin . Once the pilots became used to the DH . 2 ' s characteristics , confidence in the aircraft rose quickly , as they came to appreciate its maneuverability . He then led the squadron back to Bertangles , north of the Somme in February 1916 , where the squadron quickly helped counter the Fokker Eindecker monoplanes of the Imperial German " Fliegertruppe " which were dominant over the Western Front in the run up to the Somme offensive in July 1916 . Hawker ’ s aggressive personal philosophy of " Attack Everything " , was the entire text of his tactical order of 30 June 1916 . Spurred by his aggressiveness , 24 Squadron had claimed some 70 victories by November at a cost of 12 of its own planes and 21 pilots killed , wounded or missing . Around this time Hawker developed a ring gunsight and created a clamp and spring - clip device to hold the Lewis in place on the D . H . 2 . He also designed sheepskin boots that reached to the upper thigh , known as " fug - boots , " which became standard issue to combat the risk of frostbite at high altitude . By mid 1916 RFC policy was to ban Squadron Commanders from operational flying , Hawker included . However , he continued to make frequent offensive patrols and reconnaissance flights , particularly over the Somme battlefields . However , as the year wore on , the Germans introduced far more potent fighters to the front , starting with the Luftstreitkräfte ' s first biplane fighter , the Halberstadt D . II , and shortly thereafter the even more advanced Albatros D . I , rapidly making the DH . 2 obsolete . Death and legacy . On 23 November 1916 , while flying a DH - 2 ( Serial No . 5964 ) , Hawker left Bertangles Aerodrome at 1300 hours as part of ' A ' Flight , led by Capt J . O . Andrews and including Lt ( later AVM ) R . H . M . S Saundby . Andrews led the flight in an attack on two German aircraft over Achiet . Spotting a larger flight of German aircraft above , Andrews was about to break off the attack , but spotted Hawker diving to attack . Andrews and Saundby followed him to back him up in his fight ; Andrews drove off one of the Germans attacking Hawker , then took bullets in his engine and glided out of the fight under Saundby ' s covering fire . Losing contact with the other DH - 2 ' s , Hawker began a lengthy dog - fight with an Albatros D . II flown by Leutnant Manfred von Richthofen of Jasta 2 . The Albatros was faster than the DH2 , more powerful and with a pair of lMG 08 machine guns , more heavily armed . Richthofen fired 900 rounds during the running battle . Running low on fuel , Hawker eventually broke away from the combat and attempted to return to Allied lines . The Red Baron ' s guns jammed 50 yards from the lines , but a bullet from his last burst struck Hawker in the back of his head , killing him instantly . His plane spun from 1 , 000 feet and crashed east of Luisenhof Farm , just south of Bapaume on the Flers Road , becoming the German ace ' s 11th victim . German Grenadiers reported burying Hawker east of Luisenhof Farm along the roadside . Richthofen claimed Hawker ' s Lewis gun from the wreck as a trophy and hung it above the door of his quarters . Major Lanoe George Hawker is listed on the Arras Flying Services Memorial for airmen lost with no known grave . Hawker ' s original VC was lost when the Hawker family belongings were left behind after the fall of France in 1940 . On their return after the Second World War , they found that their possessions , including the VC , had been stolen . A replacement was issued to Hawker ' s brother on 3 February 1960 , and is now held by the Royal Air Force Museum , Hendon . Hawker was a first cousin of Arthur Bagot , a naval officer in the First World War and Albert Medal recipient . A window ( designed by Francis Skeat ) commemorating Hawker was installed in St . Nicholas church , Longparish in 1967 . The design features St . Michael above an airfield with two pilots in the foreground . There is a copy of the window at the Museum of Army Flying at Middle Wallop .