Flying Aces in the Great War Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rene Fonck

René Fonck (1894-1953) was the French top ace and also the best of all allied countries. When he enlisted in 1914, he was first trained as a combat engineer, but switched to piloting in 1915. His first aerial victory dates from August 1916, but since April 1917 he scored one kill after the other. Contrary to most other fighter pilots in the Great War, he was never wounded, and only once a bullet hit his airplane - without doing further damage than a little dent.

Adolphe Pégoud (1889-1915) was the first of all aces during the Great War. Pégoud started flying in 1913, and experimented with parachuting from a plane and flying loop stunts. When the war broke out, Pégoud started his career as a fighter pilot. With three confirmed victories in February 1915 and two in April 1915, he was the first with five confirmed victories - a feat that was titled in the newspapers as done by "l'as des pilotes" ("the ace of the pilots").

Georges Guynemer (1894-1917) was one of the leading French aces, with 53 confirmed victories up till the moment he was shot and killed in aerial combat. Soon afterwards Fonck would surpass him.

Léon Bourjade (1889-1924) started his career as fighter pilot only in June 1917. And yet he scored a whopping 28 aerial victories, shooting down 27 observation balloons and one enemy plane.

Answer: Galicia (present-day Poland)

Austria-Hungary was a large empire, encompassing not only (most of) the present day countries Austria and Hungary, but also most of the present countries Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as parts of present day Romania, Ukraine, Montenegro and Poland, and a small part of what now is Italy.

However, Serbia was not at all part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. In fact, the First World War started with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia.

Godwin von Brumowsky (1889-1936) started his military career as artillerist, before joining the air force. As a gunner he scored his first two aerial victories in April 1916. Soon afterwards he became a pilot himself and shot down several other aircraft, ending the war with 35 confirmed and 8 unconfirmed aerial victories.

The leading ace with Serbian ethnicity was born in Paris (France) and flew for the French army. His name was Pierre Marinovitch (1898-1919) and he scored 21 confirmed aerial victories.

Answer: Billy Bishop

The British Empire started the Great War with pilots from several countries that have meanwhile obtained their independence: Ireland (1916), Canada (de facto 1919 and legally since 1931), New Zealand (legally since 1947), India (1947), and South Africa (1931). Some of those pilots flew with the British Royal Flying Corps (that later became the RAF), others with the Royal Navy Air Corps that joined the RAF in 1918.

William Avery Bishop, Jr. (1894-1956) - commonly named Billy - went to the Royal Military College of Canada in 1911-1913, where his excellent marksmanship drew attention. When the war started, Billy enlisted with a cavalry regiment - but several accidents hampered his terrestrial military career. In 1915, Billy switched to the Royal Flying Corps as an observer, and in 1916 he started piloting. His first aerial victory was in March 1917, and then he scored four more within a fortnight. All in all he was credited with 72 confirmed victories, plus a large number of unconfirmed shootings.

Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor (1894-1921) was the top ace from South-Africa. He started his career in the South-African Army and joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, where he reached 54 confirmed aerial victories.

Edward Mannock (1887-1918) is listed as the top ace from Great-Britain, although one source mentions that he was born in Cork (Ireland) and another that his parents were Irish. He was credited with 61 aerial victories.

George McElroy (1893-1918) is listed as the top Irish ace, with 47 confirmed victories.

Answer: Russia

Russia was the only one of these countries involved in the First World War: the red herrings did not yet exist as independent countries.

Russia counted only the confirmed aerial victories resulting in an airplane shot down over Russian-held territory as criteria to determine whether a pilot was an ace. Other countries counted all confirmed victories. So the numbers for the Russian aces are quite lower than for the other combatants.

Alexander Kazakov (1889-1919) started his career as a cavalry officer, but completed flight training already in 1913. His final tally was 20 aerial victories. In 1918, Kazakov resigned from the Russian forces and joined the British Royal Air Force for the remainder of the war.

Answer: Willy Coppens

In 1914, German troops invaded Belgium on their way to France. This explains why Belgium, normally keen to maintain its neutrality, got involved in the Great War.

Willy Coppens (1892-1986) was one of the few Belgian military personnel who started flight training. But as he deemed the Belgian training course insufficient, he perfected his skills in a training course provided by the British Royal Flying Corps. After shooting down two observation balloons in March 1917, he continued to shoot down various balloons and three German airplanes. His final tally was 37 aerial victories.

Edmond Thieffry (1892-1929) scored ten confirmed and five "probable" aerial victories.

Fernand Jacquet (1888-1947) was the first Belgian pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft, in April 1915. He ended the war with seven confirmed and nine unconfirmed aerial victories.

Jan Olieslagers (1883-1942) shot down his first enemy plane in September 1915. He ended the war with six confirmed and 17 unconfirmed aerial victories.

The hint should have led you to someone with the initials WC, as in Winston Churchill.

Answer: Greece

Aristeidis Moraitinis (1891-1918) completed an aerial raid in 1913 during the First Balkan War. During the First World War, Moraitinis would become the only Greek ace with nine confirmed victories.

His contribution to Greek aviation goes further: he founded the Hellenic Naval Air Service, the Hellenic Naval Air Force Academy and one of the first Greek airplane factories.

Several pilots flying for the UK and the Commonwealth were born in India. But the sole true Indian ace during the First World War was Indra Lal Roy (1898-1918), who managed to get ten confirmed aerial victories in just two weeks of service.

Fiji was part of the UK Commonwealth during the First World War, but was only marginally involved. And yet one of the British aces can trace Fijian descent: Clive Brewster-Joske (1896-1947) was born in Suva and ended the war with eight confirmed aerial victories.

Although Switzerland remained neutral, a few Swiss pilots enlisted in French or UK armies. Alfred Michael Koch (1894-1984), was born in Switzerland but his family moved to Canada in 1898. There Koch joined the Royal Flying Corps, and ended the First World War with ten confirmed aerial victories.

Answer: Robert A. Little

Australia was the only Commonwealth country with an air force of its own: the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) acted besides the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). But not all Australian pilots joined the AFC: several Australian pilots flew their missions for the RNAS.

The top ace for Australia was Robert Alexander Little (1895-1918), who flew for the RNAS (later the RAF, when the RNAS and the RFC were merged). One of the most aggressive Australian fighters, Little was credited with 47 aerial victories.

Roderic Stanley Dallas (1891-1918) ended the war officially credited with 39 aerial victories, although sources differ. Dallas also flew for the RNAS.

Arthur Henry Cobby (1894-1955), nicknamed Harry, flew for the AFC and was credited with 29 aerial victories.

Elwyn King (1894-1941) also joined the AFC and ended the war with 26 confirmed aerial victories.

Answer: Italy

Persia, Ethiopia and Sweden were some of the few independent nations that remained neutral during all of the First World War.
Italy remained neutral until May 1915, when it declared war on Austria-Hungary. Francesco Baracca (1888-1918) was the first Italian to shoot down an enemy plane (in April 1916) and ended up with 34 aerial victories. Other Italian aces included Silvio Scaroni (1893-1977), Pier Ruggiero Piccio (1880-1965) and Flavio Baracchini (1895-1928) - credited with 26, 24 and 21 confirmed aerial victories, respectively.

Answer: Eddie Rickenbacker

Edward Rickenbacher (1890-1973) was born in Ohio, son of an emigrated German. Around 1915, he appeared in several newspapers as a champion automobile racer and engineer for the Duesenberg car factory, and these papers wrote his name as Rickenbacker - so not with an H. Rickenbacker officially changed his name and after the war adopted the middle name Vernon.

In 1917, Rickenbacker enlisted in the US army, as the USA entered the war. He took the opportunity of flight training and made it to fighter pilot. He shot down a first enemy plane in April 1918 and became an ace a month later. At the end of the war, Rickenbacker had shot down 21 German airplanes and five balloons.

Francis Warrington Gillet (1895-1969) enlisted in the US army, but was granted honourable discharge before finishing flight training. As he was eager to enter the war as a fighter pilot, he then signed up for service in the Canadian branch of the Royal Flying Corps (the precursor to the RAF). Gillet ended with 20 aerial victories.

Gervais Raoul Victor Lufbery (1885-1918) was born in France to a French mother and American father. Although having the American nationality, he enlisted as fighter pilot for the French army, for whom he shot down 16 enemy aircraft, and switched to the US army - obtaining one final aerial victory.

Reed Gresham Landis (1896-1975) flew for the US army during the First World War and was credited with 12 aerial victories.

Answer: Lothar von Richthofen

The Red Baron was Manfred von Richthofen (1892-1918), who shot down 80 enemy aircraft. So the Red Baron's brother has to be Lothar von Richthofen.

Lothar von Richthofen was born in 1894. He started his military career as a cavalry officer, but soon joined the Luftstreitkräfte (German air force) - at first as an observer, but since March 1917 as a fighter pilot. Lothar was awarded no less than nine medals, of which the highest esteemed was "Pour le Mérite" (known in the English speaking world informally as the "Blue Max"). By the way, Manfred also was awarded "Pour le Mérite". Lothar died in 1922 in a flying accident.

The other options were also high scoring German aces, and all of these were awarded the "Pour le Mérite".

Ernst Udet (1896-1941) scored 62 aerial victories and would rise to high ranks in the Luftwaffe.

Werner Voss (1897-1917) shot down 48 enemy aircraft.

Erich Löwenhardt (1897-1918) was credited with 54 aerial victories.