Post by David Cochrane on May 7, 2016 15:00:27 GMT
Something that's been discussed here - and on the old chapter-one website - is the idea of the VC being awarded for spectacular achievement rather than daring. One can especially see this in the awards made to the top aces of the First World War (and, of course, the Medals of Honor given to Marine & AAF pilots in the Pacific during the Second).
Some of the citations did not try to hide this, but two of them - Major Hawker's & Lieutenant-Colonel Bishop's - were ostensibly for one single action rather than a sustained period of success, which was, I'm sure, the real reason for the award. Again, one can see parallels with the US pilots in the Pacific.
Major Hawker was, of course, the first British ace of the War, and his VC was primarily for that - Captain Ball held the title of 'Top Ace' for some time, as did Lt-Col Bishop & Major McCudden. Major Mannock (top actual British pilot, Bishop being Canadian) and Captain Beauchamp-Proctor (top South African) earned other distinctions without being tops overall. This may also help to indicate why Lt-Col Collishaw & Major MacLaren (both Canadians), although their scores equalled or surpassed those of other recipients, did not receive it themselves.
What I hadn't realized, until I was looking into the subject of who held the top spot throughout the War, was that Major Rees also fit into this category: when he scored his seventh & eighth victories on the first day of the Somme, he surpassed Major Hawker's total and briefly became top RFC pilot. I am sure that this distinction was a big factor in the award of the VC for that combat.
Curiously enough, of the fighter pilots to receive the VC during the First World War, only two - Lieutenant Jerrard & Major Barker - never held the 'top ace' title at any point in their careers, although Major Barker did purely for the Italian front. If one looks at the actions for which they received their VCs, it is also these two men's who can best, I think, stand on their own, as they weren't proxies for a long period of high scoring.
In a further irony, of the two acts mentioned here that receive the most modern-day scrutiny (Lt-Col Bishop's being the first, of course), the other is Lieutenant Jerrard's: he himself always insisted that his fellow pilots over-glamorized his last battle, and the Austrians' testimony, along with modern-day historians' work, seems to bear out his version.
I can't help but wonder why the practice of awarding the VC to the most successful fighter pilots didn't continue through to the Second World War, especially when one can see this tendency for other fields, like submarine captains (Lt-Cdr Wanklyn & Cdr Linton) and bomber pilots (W/C Gibson, W/C Cheshire & S/L Palmer). I think that the reason may be in the two controversial awards that I already mentioned, both of which were not very well supported by witness testimony. When F/L Nicolson asked ACM Dowding why he had been the only fighter pilot to receive the VC in 1940, the reply was that it was very difficult to get proper evidence from witnesses when one is flying a single-seat aircraft, which I think bears out my reason. In some ways that's a pity, because I think that Squadron Leader Pattle (and, I'm sure, others too) was very well-deserving of the VC - not because of his high score, but because of the conditions under which he operated in the last month of his life and of course for the way in which he finally lost his life.
Some of the citations did not try to hide this, but two of them - Major Hawker's & Lieutenant-Colonel Bishop's - were ostensibly for one single action rather than a sustained period of success, which was, I'm sure, the real reason for the award. Again, one can see parallels with the US pilots in the Pacific.
Major Hawker was, of course, the first British ace of the War, and his VC was primarily for that - Captain Ball held the title of 'Top Ace' for some time, as did Lt-Col Bishop & Major McCudden. Major Mannock (top actual British pilot, Bishop being Canadian) and Captain Beauchamp-Proctor (top South African) earned other distinctions without being tops overall. This may also help to indicate why Lt-Col Collishaw & Major MacLaren (both Canadians), although their scores equalled or surpassed those of other recipients, did not receive it themselves.
What I hadn't realized, until I was looking into the subject of who held the top spot throughout the War, was that Major Rees also fit into this category: when he scored his seventh & eighth victories on the first day of the Somme, he surpassed Major Hawker's total and briefly became top RFC pilot. I am sure that this distinction was a big factor in the award of the VC for that combat.
Curiously enough, of the fighter pilots to receive the VC during the First World War, only two - Lieutenant Jerrard & Major Barker - never held the 'top ace' title at any point in their careers, although Major Barker did purely for the Italian front. If one looks at the actions for which they received their VCs, it is also these two men's who can best, I think, stand on their own, as they weren't proxies for a long period of high scoring.
In a further irony, of the two acts mentioned here that receive the most modern-day scrutiny (Lt-Col Bishop's being the first, of course), the other is Lieutenant Jerrard's: he himself always insisted that his fellow pilots over-glamorized his last battle, and the Austrians' testimony, along with modern-day historians' work, seems to bear out his version.
I can't help but wonder why the practice of awarding the VC to the most successful fighter pilots didn't continue through to the Second World War, especially when one can see this tendency for other fields, like submarine captains (Lt-Cdr Wanklyn & Cdr Linton) and bomber pilots (W/C Gibson, W/C Cheshire & S/L Palmer). I think that the reason may be in the two controversial awards that I already mentioned, both of which were not very well supported by witness testimony. When F/L Nicolson asked ACM Dowding why he had been the only fighter pilot to receive the VC in 1940, the reply was that it was very difficult to get proper evidence from witnesses when one is flying a single-seat aircraft, which I think bears out my reason. In some ways that's a pity, because I think that Squadron Leader Pattle (and, I'm sure, others too) was very well-deserving of the VC - not because of his high score, but because of the conditions under which he operated in the last month of his life and of course for the way in which he finally lost his life.
