Albert Ball VC, DSO & Two Bars, MC (14 August 1896 – 7 May 1917) was an English First World War fighter pilot and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British or Commonwealth armed forces. At the time of his death, he was the leading Allied ace with 44 victories, second only to Germany ace Manfred Von Richthofen. He was the United Kingdom's fourth scoring ace, behind only Edward Mannock, James McCudden, and George McElroy.
Ball grew up in Nottingham, England before joining the Sherwood Foresters at the outbreak of the First World War. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in October 1914. In February 1916, he joined No. 13 Squadron RFC at Marieux in France, flying in reconnaissance missions before being transferred in May to a fighter squadron. From May through to his return to England in October he accrued a large number of aerial victories and two of his Distinguished Service Orders; he became the first fighter ace in England to capture the public's imagination. By April 1917, Ball was anxious for a return to action and he was transferred to No. 56 Squadron RFC which was posted to France on 7 April. Ball continued his impressive record of aerial victories before his final flight on 7 May, when he crashed to his death into a field in France.
On the evening of 7 May 1917 near Douai, eleven British aircraft from No. 56 Squadron led by Ball encountered German fighters from Jasta 11. A running dogfight in deteriorating visibility resulted, and the aircraft became scattered. Albert Ball was last seen by his fellow pilots pursuing the red Albatros D.III of Lothar von Richthofen. Richthofen landed near Annoeullin with a punctured fuel tank. Ball's squadron-mate Cyril Crowe last saw Ball flying into a dark thundercloud. A German pilot officer on the ground, Lieutenant Hailer, saw Ball's plane fall inverted from the bottom of the cloud with a dead prop, at an altitude of 200 feet; early model SE-5 engines could not run inverted. Hailer and his three companions hurried to the crash site. They saw no bullet holes in the wrecked plane. Richtofen was credited by the Germans with shooting Ball down; however there is some doubt as to what happened, especially as Richthofen's claim was for a Sopwith Triplane, not an SE.5, which was a biplane. Given the amount of propaganda the German high command generated touting the younger von Richthofen, there was probably a high level decision made to credit Ball's death to him. It is probable that Ball was not shot down at all, but had become disoriented and lost control during the aerial combat, a victim of a form of temporary vertigo that has claimed other pilots since.
A young French woman had pulled Ball from the wreckage, and he died in her arms of injuries suffered in the crash. A German doctor later described a broken back and a crushed chest, along with assorted lesser injuries. It was only at the end of May that the Germans dropped messages within Allied lines announcing that Ball was dead, and had been buried with full military honors.
Ball's confirmed victories were one balloon and 28 aircraft destroyed, including five planes in flames. He was also credited with six aircraft downed 'out of control', and nine 'forced to land'.
