Lanoe Hawker VC

Major Lanoe Hawker VC helped to establish British control of the air above the Somme in the opening weeks of the Battle, but was shot down and killed shortly after it ended. 

Hawker was the first ‘ace’ of the Royal Flying Corps.  On 25 July 1915, in an aircraft that he had adapted himself, he brought down three German aircraft near Ypres.  He was awarded the Victoria Cross, to add to the Distinguished Service Order he had gained in April.

By September 1915 Hawker had seven victories and was sent home to take command of the newly formed 24 Squadron.  This unit was the first to be equipped exclusively with DH2 single-seater scouting aircraft intended for combat.  As a ‘pusher’ with the engine located behind the pilot, the DH2 had a good field of fire for its Lewis gun mounted at the front.

Hawker led 24 Squadron to France in February 1916 and established it at Bertangles, north of the Somme.  The German Fokker E1 monoplane was still dominant over the Western Front.  But the arrival of 24 Squadron, motivated by Hawker’s concise philosophy ‘Attack Everything’, soon helped the Royal Flying Corps to turn the balance.  On 1 July British airpower dominated the skies over the Somme and 24 Squadron had claimed 70 victories by November.

In September the arrival of new German aircraft once again shifted the balance of power away from the Royal Flying Corps.  On 23 November, a week after the end of the Battle, Hawker took part in an offensive patrol.  After attacking up to eight German aircraft over Achiet, he began a long dog-fight with one in particular.  The pilot was Leutnant Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen.  The battle lasted for more than 30 minutes until, with Hawker running out of fuel, he was finally brought down and killed, von Richthofen’s eleventh victim.  Hawker was 25.