What kind of person is the ace pilot Ball?

During World War I, there was a famous young warrior in the Royal Flying Corps named Albert Ball. This ace pilot shot down 44 German aircraft in his short combat flying career of 1 year and 3 months. He was awarded the Army Cross, Distinguished Service Medal and Victoria Cross. He was only 20 years old when he died.

On August 21, 1896, Ball was born in Nottingham, England. His father was the mayor of Nottingham. In August 1914, when the war broke out, the 18-year-old Ball was studying at Chunt College. , he remembered a slogan on the door of the college: "Britain hopes that everyone will fulfill his duty", so he decided to join the army and defend the motherland. At first he was assigned to a guard unit as a soldier. Since this type of unit could not go to the front line, he asked to go to the French front line with a bicycle communication team. Later, the communications team actually went to the front line, and he was retained to serve as a sergeant in an officer training corps. There, he bought an old scooter and attended classes at a private aviation school at his own expense every day. Later, he learned to fly. He spent 500 pounds on his own before he initially learned to fly a plane. Then he asked to be transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. After passing the examination, he obtained the Royal Flying Corps pilot's license on October 15, 1915. The driver's license number was 1898.

The Royal Flying Corps is equipped with Gaudron fighters, which are faster than the trainer aircraft he flew at the aviation school. At first, he did not fly well, and the instructor was not satisfied and wanted to send him back to the army. Ball was not discouraged. He repeatedly assured the instructor that he would work hard to fly out. A few months later, due to his hard work and humbly studying, he finally won the praise of his instructor with excellent results. On February 18, 1916, he was assigned to the 13th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps stationed in France as a second lieutenant. pilot. At first he flew reconnaissance aircraft to indicate targets for ground artillery. He was not satisfied with this and kept asking to be a fighter pilot. Finally he was approved and joined the 11th Squadron, a fighter force.

Since becoming a fighter pilot, Ball has shown his extraordinary talents. He is not only brave and tenacious, but also resourceful. At that time, the basic style of air combat was a single-aircraft dogfight; it was also called a "dog fight" at that time, which was an air combat action in which two hostile aircraft fought and bit each other in the air. This kind of action usually comes to a conclusion within 1 to 2 minutes, but it can also take as long as 5 to 10 minutes, with dozens of rounds going back and forth with no outcome. Bauer's specialty was in "dog fights", sneak attacks around the rear of the enemy aircraft, and more often around the blind spot behind and below the enemy aircraft, then raised the nose of the aircraft and shot at the enemy aircraft at the closest distance, thus achieving many military exploits. . By June 1916, after four months of fighting, he had achieved more than a dozen victories, ranked first in the 11th Squadron, and received an Army Cross.

During the "World War I", there was also a popular action of issuing a challenge, that is, some well-known top pilots flew over the enemy's airport and dropped a letter of challenge, naming a certain pilot of the opponent. Take off and challenge, or say I am a pilot of such and such, who dares to take off and challenge. This medieval knightly legacy is said to have been first initiated by Richthofen, the German aerial hero and "Red Warrior" at that time.

The young and energetic Ball has many achievements, and he has also begun to challenge. On June 18, 1916, he flew to a German airport and dropped a letter of defiance, angering the opposing pilots with contemptuous words. At that time, a famous aerial hero in the German army named Immelmann was stationed at the airport. He could not stand the arrogance of the British, so he took off to fight, but was shot down by Bauer and died. There is another theory that Immelmann was shot down and killed by John Waller, an aerial shooter on a reconnaissance aircraft of the British 25th Squadron, on June 18, 1916 due to negligence. The Germans claimed that Immelmann's death was caused by structural problems in the aircraft.

The reason why Immelmann's name can be passed down to future generations is mainly because in 1915, he completed the "Immermann Rise and Change" tactical move named after him for the first time.

This transformation is that after the aircraft performs a dive attack, it uses the speed gained from the dive to immediately pull up. The first half of the aircraft is similar to a jack-in-the-box action. After reaching the top of the jack-in-the-box, it performs a half-roll recovery and flies level in a 180° direction. This transformation can quickly gain a high altitude advantage in air combat in order to find opportunities to attack again. Immelmann became a famous air hero in Germany because he was the first pilot in the German Air Force to shoot down an enemy plane on August 1, 1915. By the end of 1915, he had shot down 7 enemy planes. It was an amazing achievement at the time. He shot down 15 Allied aircraft in his lifetime and became the ace among German pilots. Since Germany kept Immelmann's death strictly secret at the time, the British did not know that Bauer had shot down Immelmann until the end of the Battle of Wood.

On July 8, 1916, in one day, Ball conducted 12 air battles. On August 21, to celebrate his mth birthday, he took off eight times to meet the enemy. On this day, he was appointed as the acting squad leader of the U Squadron and was promoted to lieutenant.

The "London Daily Mail" said in a report on September 11, 1916: "Lieutenant Albert Ball, the eldest son of the former Mayor of Nottingham, has shot down 22 enemy planes so far. According to Bauer, he participated in 82 air battles. Once, he was surrounded by 4 enemy planes at night. Due to his heroic fighting, all 4 enemy planes were shot down by him. "From then on, Bao became a fighter. Er began to become famous in Britain, people called him an air hero, even "the hero of heroes".

In September 1916, he served as the squadron leader of the Indian Squadron and achieved the result of shooting down 28 German aircraft. On September 16, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, and 10 days later, he was awarded the second Army Cross. On November 18, 1916, when he achieved the result of shooting down 29 enemy aircraft, he returned to London to receive the Victoria Cross awarded by the King. British Prime Minister Louis George hosted a special breakfast banquet. On February 19, 1917, after he succeeded in shooting down the 32nd enemy plane, he was allowed to go home to visit relatives and was warmly welcomed by the citizens of Nottingham.

On April 17, 1917, he returned to the front line and was appointed squadron leader of the famous "Top Hat No. 56 Squadron". Only college graduates and aristocratic children can join this top-hat squadron. Ball was appointed to this position entirely due to his special contribution.

At this time, the French pilot Cuneme had a record of shooting down 40 aircraft, making Bauer, who had always been in the leading position in the Allied Air Force, fall behind. He was determined to catch up. he. In the first half of 1917, the records of Bauer and Gueneme were always comparable. You shot down one pair, and I shot down two. The two men also have similar personalities and looks. Both men were very brave and excellent shooters. Their planes were often riddled with bullets, and both had been shot down seven times but survived by parachuting.

Since Bauer became the squadron leader, at only 20 years old, he seems to have become much more experienced. In addition to regularly participating in combat, he also manages this squadron of more than 20 aircraft. From April 25th to May 6th, he experienced 26 more air battles and shot down 11 enemy planes. Together with a balloon he shot down, he shot down 44 enemy planes. The record exceeded that of Cunet at the time. Mei (Note: At the end of the war, Gunemei shot down 54 enemy planes). On the night of May 7, 1917, a tragedy occurred for the Royal Flying Corps and the British nation. Ball was shot down and killed. He was shot down by German pilot Russell Richthofen. Russell is the younger brother of "Red Warrior" Richthofen.

On May 28, 1917, King George I wrote a special letter to Ball's father: "I deeply regret and deplore the death of Lieutenant Albert Ball of the Royal Flying Corps in recognition of his bravery. For being loyal to the motherland, he is awarded the supreme Victoria Cross posthumously to comfort his heroic spirit."