This is a list of flying aces in World War I from Canada. A flying ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. Canadians served in the British flying services–the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service, and the Royal Air Force, as Canada had no air arm until the formation of the Canadian Air Force on September 19, 1918.
For a master list of victories during the conflict, see List of World War I flying aces.
Canadian World War I aces
More than 10 victories
This indicates that the pilot was either killed in action or killed in a flying accident.
Name | Rank | Victories | Unit(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Billy Bishop | Lieutenant Colonel | 72 | 21, 60, 85 | VC (1894-1956) |
Raymond Collishaw | Lieutenant Colonel | 60 | 10N, 13N, 3W (RNAS); 47, 203 (RAF) | (1893-1976) |
Donald Roderick MacLaren | Major | 54 | 46 | (1893-1988) |
William George Barker | Major | 50 | 4, 9, 15, 28, 66 (RFC); 139, 201 (RAF) | VC DSO MC. Killed in aircraft accident 1930 |
Alfred Clayburn Atkey | Captain | 38 | 18, 22 | (1894-1971) |
William Gordon Claxton | Captain | 37 | 41 | |
Joseph Stewart Temple Fall | Flight Commander | 36 | 3N, 9N (RNAS) | |
Frederick Robert Gordon McCall | Captain | 35 | 13, 41 | |
Frank Granger Quigley | Captain | 33 | 70 | |
Andrew Edward McKeever | Lieutenant Colonel | 31 | 11 | |
Albert Desbrisay Carter | Major | 28 | 19 | |
Reginald Hoidge | Captain | 28 | 1, 56 | |
Clifford MacKay McEwen | Lieutenant | 27 | 28 | |
Frank Ormond Soden | Captain | 27 | 41, 60 | |
Arthur Whealy | Captain | 27 | 3N, 9N, 3W (RNAS); 203 (RAF) | |
William McKenzie Thomson | Captain | 26 | 20 | |
Stanley Wallace Rosevear | Captain | 25 | 1 Naval (RNAS); 201 (RAF) | |
William Ernest Shields | Captain | 24 | 41 | |
William Melville Alexander | Captain | 22 | 10N, 3W (RNAS); 210 (RAF) | |
Joseph Leonard Maries White | Captain | 22 | 65 | |
Harold Leslie Edwards | 2nd Lieutenant | 21 | 20 | |
Charles Hickey | Captain | 21 | 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF) | |
Kenneth Burns Conn | Lieutenant | 20 | 88 | |
Camille Lagesse | Captain | 20 | 29 | |
Arthur Bradfield Fairclough | Captain | 19 | 19, 23 | |
Ellis Vair Reid | Flight Sub Lieutenant | 19 | 3W; 10N | |
George Chisholm MacKay | Captain | 18 | 13N (RNAS); 213 (RAF) | |
Alfred Williams Carter | Major | 17 | 3N, 10N, 3W (RNAS); 210 (RAF) | |
Stearne Tighe Edwards | Captain | 17 | 2N, 6N, 9N, 11N; 3W (RNAS); 209 (RAF) | |
Carl Frederick Falkenberg | Captain | 17 | 84 | |
Gerald Gordon Bell | Captain | 16 | 17, 22, 47 (RFC); 150 (RAF) | |
Henry John Burden | Captain | 16 | 56, 72, 85 | |
James Alpheus Glen | Captain | 15 | 3N, 10N (RNAS); 203 (RAF) | |
John Edmund Greene | Captain | 15 | 13N (RNAS); 213 (RAF) | |
Carleton Main Clement | Captain | 14 | 22 | |
Albert Earl Godfrey | Captain | 14 | 10, 25, 40, 44, 78 | |
John Victor Sorsoleil | Captain | 14 | 84 | |
George Thomson | Lieutenant | 14 | 22 | |
Hazel LeRoy Wallace | Captain | 14 | 9N (RNAS); 3, 201 (RAF) | |
Thomas Frederic Williams | Captain | 14 | 28, 45 | Founding member of RCAF; elected to Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame |
Frederick Carr Armstrong | Flight Commander | 13 | 3N; 3W (RNAS) | |
Wilfred Austin Curtis | Flight Commander | 13 | 6N, 10N | Elected to Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame |
George Robert Howsam | Captain | 13 | 43, 70 | Retired as Air Vice-Marshal of RCAF |
Ernest Charles Hoy | Captain | 13 | 29 | Made the first airmail flight over the Canadian Rockies 7 August 1919 |
Harold Byrn Hudson | Lieutenant | 13 | 28, 45 | |
Ronald McNeill Keirstead | Captain | 13 | 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF) | |
John Gerald Manuel | Captain | 13 | 10N, 12N (RNAS); 210 (RAF) | |
Wilfrid Reid May | Captain | 13 | 209 | |
Stanley Stanger | Captain | 13 | 28, 66 | |
Gerald Alfred Birks | Lieutenant | 12 | 66 | |
Edwin Claude Bromley | Lieutenant | 12 | 22 | |
William Leeming Harrison | Captain | 12 | 1, 40 | |
William Henry Hubbard | Captain | 12 | 5, 7, 73 | |
Gordon Budd Irving | Captain | 12 | 19 | |
William Stanley Jenkins | Captain | 12 | 210 (RAF) | |
Roy Manzer | Captain | 12 | 84 | |
Douglas McGregor | Captain | 12 | 23 | |
Henry Coyle Rath | Lieutenant | 12 | 29 | |
Alexander MacDonald Shook | Major | 12 | 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF) | |
William Samuel Stephenson | Captain | 12 | 73 | Head of British Intelligence in the Western Hemisphere during World War II |
Melville Wells Waddington | Lieutenant | 12 | 20 | |
James Butler White | Captain | 12 | 8N (RNAS); 208 (RAF) | |
Fred Everest Banbury | Captain | 11 | 9N (RNAS) | |
Arnold Jacques Chadwick | Flight Commander | 11 | 4N, 5W (RNAS) | |
Hiram Frank Davison | Lieutenant | 11 | 22 | |
Art Duncan | Captain | 11 | 60 | |
Charles D. B. Green | Lieutenant | 11 | 47 (RFC); 150 (RAF) | |
William Roy Irwin | Captain | 11 | 56 | |
Mansell Richard James | Captain | 11 | 45 | |
George Owen Johnson | Captain | 11 | 24, 84 | |
Harold Anthony Oaks | Captain | 11 | 48 | Elected to Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame |
Hilliard Brooke Bell | Captain | 10 | 66 | |
Lloyd Samuel Breadner | Major | 10 | 3W, 3N (RNAS); 204 (RAF) | Air Chief Marshal Breadner achieved the highest rank ever awarded in the RCAF |
Arthur Roy Brown | Captain | 10 | 4N, 9N, 11N (RNAS); 209 (RAF) | Credited with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) |
Frederick Elliott Brown | Captain | 10 | 2, 84 | |
Robert Dodds | Captain | 10 | 48 | |
Alfred Michael Koch | Lieutenant | 10 | 1, 6, 70 | |
John Joseph Malone | Flight Sub-Lieutenant | 10 | 3N, 3W (RNAS) | |
Alfred Edwin McKay | Captain | 10 | 23, 24 | |
Guy Borthwick Moore | Captain | 10 | 1 | |
Frank Harold Taylor | Lieutenant | 10 | 41, 84 | |
John Henry Tudhope | Captain | 10 | 40 |
Fewer than 10 victories
Name | Rank | Victories | Unit(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bernard Paul Gascoigne Beanlands | Captain | 9 | 24, 70 | |
William Henry Brown | Lieutenant | 9 | 84 | |
George William Bulmer | Captain | 9 | 22 | |
Leonard Arthur Christian | Lieutenant | 9 | 6N (RNAS); 206 (RAF) | |
Richard Jeffries Dawes | Captain | 9 | 28, 45 | |
Roger Amedee Del'Haye | Captain | 9 | 13, 19 | |
George Clapham Dixon | Captain | 9 | 40, 43, 85 | |
James Henry Forman | Captain | 9 | 1N, 6N (RNAS); 70, 201 (RAF) | |
Acheson Goulding | Captain | 9 | 17 (RFC); 150 (RAF) | |
Harold Spencer Kerby | Captain | 9 | 3N, 9N, 3W (RNAS); Walmer HD | |
David MacKay McGoun | Captain | 9 | 20, 22 | |
William Wendell Rogers | Captain | 9 | 1 | |
Ernest James Salter | Captain | 9 | 54 | |
Anthony George Allen Spence | Lieutenant | 9 | 1N (RNAS); 201 (RAF) | |
Louis Mark Thompson | Lieutenant | 9 | 62 | |
Kenneth Bowman Watson | Lieutenant | 9 | 28, 70 | |
William Benson Craig | Lieutenant | 8 | 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF) | |
John Dartnell De Pencier | Captain | 8 | 19 (RFC); 12 (RAF) | |
William Durrand, Jr. | Lieutenant | 8 | 20 | |
Austin Lloyd Fleming | Captain | 8 | 46, 111 | |
D'Arcy Fowlis Hilton | Lieutenant | 8 | 29 | |
Ernest Graham Joy | Major | 8 | 49, 57 (RFC); 205 (RAF) | |
Kenneth William Junor | Captain | 8 | 56 | |
Arthur Gerald Knight | Captain | 8 | 4, 24, 29 | Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron)'s 13th victim. |
William Myron MacDonald | Lieutenant | 8 | 66 | |
Reginald George Malcolm | Captain | 8 | 25 | |
George Ivan Douglas Marks | Lieutenant | 8 | 23 | |
Roderick McDonald | Captain | 8 | 8N (RNAS); 208 (RAF) | |
William Jackson Rutherford | Captain | 8 | 60 | |
John Edward Sharman | Flight Commander | 8 | 3W, 10N | |
John Henry Smith | Lieutenant | 8 | 46 | |
Langley Frank Willard Smith | Flight Sub-lieutenant | 8 | 4N (RNAS) | |
Alexander Gordon Tyrrell | Lieutenant | 8 | 73 | |
Claude Melnot Wilson | Lieutenant | 8 | 25, 29, 93 | |
Alan Duncan Bell-Irving | Captain | 7 | 7, 60 | |
Thomas James Birmingham | Lieutenant | 7 | 22 | |
Cecil Guelph Brock | Lieutenant | 7 | 1N, 9N (RNAS); 3, 209 (RAF) | |
David Luther Burgess | Lieutenant | 7 | 25 | |
Lynn Campbell | Captain | 7 | 62 | |
Ernest Francis Hartley Davis | Lieutenant | 7 | 41 | |
Clennell Haggerston Dickins | 2nd Lieutenant | 7 | 211 | Named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935, an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1968 |
Conway Farrell | Captain | 7 | 24, 56 | |
George Buchanan Foster | Lieutenant | 7 | 24 | Named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1946 |
Eric Charlton Gilroy | Lieutenant | 7 | 11 | |
William Carrall Hilborn | Captain | 7 | 28, 45, 66 | |
Jeffrey Batters Home-Hay | Captain | 7 | 53, 104 | |
Arthur Jarvis | Lieutenant | 7 | 17 (RFC); 150 (RAF) | |
Archie Nathaniel Jenks | Lieutenant | 7 | 20 | |
Harold Waddell Joslyn | Lieutenant | 7 | 20 | |
Alfred Alexander Leitch | Captain | 7 | 43, 65 | |
Malcolm Plaw MacLeod | Lieutenant | 7 | 41 | |
Roy Kirkwood McConnell | Lieutenant | 7 | 46 | |
Ernest Morrow | Captain | 7 | 62 | |
John Albert Page | Flight Lieutenant | 7 | 3N, 10N | |
Stanley Asa Puffer | Lieutenant | 7 | 41 | |
Lewis Hector Ray | Lieutenant | 7 | 19 | |
Emerson Smith | Lieutenant | 7 | 45 | Shot down by Joachim von Busse of Jasta 3 on 26 October 1917, captured. |
Merrill Samuel Taylor | Lieutenant | 7 | 9N (RNAS); 209 (RAF) | |
Percival Ewart Appleby | Lieutenant | 6 | 104 | |
Henry Gordon Clappison | Captain | 6 | 4N (RNAS); 204 (RAF) | |
Irving Banfield Corey | 2nd Lieutenant | 6 | 103 | |
Earl Frederick Crabb | Lieutenant | 6 | 92 | |
John Elmer Drummond | Captain | 6 | 22, 48 | |
Herbert Howard Snowden Fowler | Lieutenant | 6 | 8N, 12N (RNAS); 208 (RAF) | Discharged from the RAF when it was determined that he was almost completely deaf. |
Daniel Murray Bayne Galbraith | Captain | 6 | 8N, 1W | |
Ernest Tilton Sumpter Kelly | 2nd Lieutenant | 6 | 1 | |
Earl Stanley Meek | Captain | 6 | 29 | |
Norman Craig Millman | Captain | 6 | 48 | |
Gerald Ewart Nash | Flight Lieutenant | 6 | 10N | Shot down by Karl Allmenröder of Jasta 11, captured |
Medley Kingdon Parlee | 2nd Lieutenant | 6 | 22 | |
William Keith Swayze | Lieutenant | 6 | 62 | |
Harry Lutz Symons | Captain | 6 | 65 | |
Victor Wentworth Thompson | Lieutenant | 6 | 43, 64 | |
George Leonard Trapp | Flight Sub-Lieutenant | 6 | 10N | |
Harry Ellis Watson | Lieutenant | 6 | 41 | |
Harry Alison Wood | Major | 6 | 24 | |
George Benson Anderson | Flight Lieutenant | 5 | 3N, 3W (RNAS) | |
Louis Drummond Bawlf | Captain | 5 | 3N (RNAS); 203 (RAF) | |
George Walker Blaiklock | Lieutenant | 5 | 45 | |
William Otway Boger | Captain | 5 | 11, 56, 92 | |
Edward Borgfeldt Booth | Lieutenant | 5 | 70 | |
William Eric Bottrill | 2nd Lieutenant | 5 | 104 | |
Harry Neville Compton | Lieutenant | 5 | 23 | |
John Bonnicher Crompton | Captain | 5 | 60 | |
Lumsden Cummings | Captain | 5 | 1 | |
Chester Stairs Duffus | Major | 5 | 22, 25 | |
Edward Carter Eaton | Lieutenant | 5 | 65 | |
William Boyd Elliott | Captain | 5 | 103 (RFC); 205 (RAF) | |
Sydney Emerson Ellis | Flight Sub-lieutenant | 5 | 4N (RNAS) | |
George William Gladstone Gauld | Lieutenant | 5 | 74 | |
John Gordon Gillanders | Lieutenant | 5 | 18, 103 | |
William John Gillespie | Lieutenant | 5 | 41 | |
Edward Rochfort Grange | Flight Lieutenant | 5 | 8N, 1W (RNAS); 208 (RAF) | |
Hugh Bradford Griffith | Captain | 5 | 11, 20, 48 | |
John Playford Hales | Captain | 5 | 9N (RNAS); 203 (RAF) | |
Joseph Eskel Hallonquist | Captain | 5 | 28 | |
Earl McNabb Hand | Captain | 5 | 45, 71, 73 | Shot down and captured on 1 June 1918 |
Conrad Tolendal Lally | Captain | 5 | 25 | |
Robert Hazen Little | Lieutenant | 5 | 20, 48 | |
Ross Morrison MacDonald | Lieutenant | 5 | 15, 87 | Shot down and captured on 29 September 1918 |
John Finlay Noel MacRae | Lieutenant | 5 | 23 | |
Patrick Sarsfield Manley | 2nd Lieutenant | 5 | 62 | Shot down and captured on 27 September 1918 |
William Drummond Matheson | Captain | 5 | 25 | |
John Harry McNeaney | Captain | 5 | 79 | Only Canadian ace in 79 Squadron |
Russell Fern McRae | Lieutenant | 5 | 4 (AFC); 46 (RFC) | |
Harold Arthur Sydney Molyneux | Lieutenant | 5 | 56, 60 | |
Harold Edgar Mott | Captain | 5 | 9N (RNAS) | |
Redford Henry Mulock | Colonel | 5 | 3N, 1W, 82W | First Canadian and first RNAS ace of the war |
John Edwardes Pugh | Captain | 5 | 25 | |
John Bernard Russell | 2nd Lieutenant | 5 | 103 | |
James Robert Smith | 2nd Lieutenant | 5 | 18, 33, 51, 78 | |
George Arthur Welsh | Lieutenant | 5 | 210 (RAF) | |
Robert Kenneth Whitney | Lieutenant | 5 | 60 |