Britain
Albert Ball
1896–1917 Fighter pilot, Royal Flying Corps; flight commander, No. 56 Squadron, 1917
Born in Nottingham on 14 August 1896, the son of a businessman who rose to become Lord Mayor, Albert Ball enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters in 1914 and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He scored his first victory on 16 May 1916 and had 31 by the end of September, which made him Britain's top-scoring ace and a national hero. A loner who stalked his prey from below, he won the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order with two bars. He returned to France with No. 56 Squadron in April 1917 and died on 7 May with 44 victories. Germany credited Lothar von Richthofen, but there is little evidence for the claim, and Ball may have lost control in cloud. His Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously.