Albert Ball
Albert Ball, VC, DSO & Two Bars, MC was an English fighter pilot during the First World War. At the time of his death he was the United Kingdom’s leading flying ace, with 44 victories, and remained its fourth-highest scorer behind Edward Mannock, James McCudden, and George McElroy. He crashed to his death in a field in France on 7 May, sparking a wave of national mourning and posthumous recognition, which included the award of the Victoria Cross.
About Albert Ball in brief
Albert Ball, VC, DSO & Two Bars, MC was an English fighter pilot during the First World War. At the time of his death he was the United Kingdom’s leading flying ace, with 44 victories, and remained its fourth-highest scorer behind Edward Mannock, James McCudden, and George McElroy. He crashed to his death in a field in France on 7 May, sparking a wave of national mourning and posthumous recognition, which included the award of the Victoria Cross for his actions during his final tour of duty. He was the first ace to become a British national hero. Ball was born and raised in Nottingham, and joined the Sherwood Foresters at the outbreak of the war. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps the following year, and gained his pilot’s wings on 26 January 1916. After a period on home establishment, Ball was posted to No. 56 Squadron, which deployed to the Western Front in April 1917. The famous German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, remarked upon hearing of Ball’s death that he was ‘by far the best English flying man’. Ball would wake at 3am to ride his motorcycle to Ruffy-Baumann School for flying practice at dawn, before beginning his daily military duty at 6am. His training at Ruffy was not unique; Edwin Cole was learning to fly there at the same time; he had a two-inch piece of wood through his head and he was nearly dead when he got up to he got a smash and he had to be taken to hospital.
Ball’s father was Albert Ball, a successful businessman who rose from employment as a plumber to become Lord Mayor of Nottingham. His mother was Harriett Mary Page, who was later knighted, and who waslater knighted. He had two siblings, a brother and a sister. Ball had a small hut behind the family house where he tinkered with engines and electrical equipment. In his youth, he was raised with a knowledge of firearms, and conducted target practice in Sedgley’s gardens, and soon became a crack shot. In March 1915, Ball began a short-lived engagement to Dorothy Elbourne. In June, he decided to take private flying lessons at Hendon Aerodrome, which would give him an outlet for his interest in engineering and possibly help him to see action in France. On 24 February 1915, he wrote to his parents, ‘I have just sent five boys to France, and I hear that they will be in the firing line on Monday. It is just my luck to be unable to go.’ He was assigned to training recruits, but this rear-echelon role irked him and he transferred early the next year to the North Midlands Cyclist Company, Divisional Mounted Troops, but remained confined to a posting in England. He also served in the Officers’ Training Corps. In December 1913, aged 17, his father helped him gain employment at Universal Engineering Works near the family home.
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