James McCudden. England
James McCudden became an ace with his fifth kill in February 1917, having been flying in combat since the preceding June. Prior to flying as a pilot McCudden had been a trained observer and gunner, and had already received the Croix de Guerre from the French allies. After receiving the designation of Ace McCudden was sent back to England to train pilots and to build morale for recruiting aviators, as the life expectancy of new pilots was measured in less than two weeks.
While McCudden was in England the Germans launched raids against British cities using the Gotha bomber, a lumbering heavy bomber which flew at an altitude unattainable by most fighters of the day. The bombers did relatively little damage although they exposed the vulnerability of England, and other fronts, to high altitude bombing raids. British fighters had limited success against the Gotha raids, by the time their tactics and equipment improved to the point that they were slightly more successful McCudden had returned to France.
In June 1917 McCudden returned to the front with 56 Squadron RFC. The quality of the pilots in this unit, some of which McCudden had trained, increased the competition with each other. McCudden’s leadership skills were put to the test maintaining efficiency within the competitive spirit. McCudden had spent much of his time in England developing a deeper technical knowledge of the aircraft which they flew, information he shared with the younger pilots.
By January of 1918 McCudden had a total of 43 victories. By the end of February, one year after becoming an ace, it stood at 57. In March he was again sent to England, suffering from exhaustion, called in later war combat fatigue. By then the newer tactics and airplanes developed by the British and implemented by leaders like McCudden had significantly improved the survivability of British pilots.
In England he was feted as a war hero on a morale building tour. Upon his return to France, shortly following a German advance, he became confused about his whereabouts and stopped to ascertain the situation at Auxi-le-Chateau. Upon again taking off his airplane nose-dived into the ground. Alive when removed from the wreckage, he died later that night. He was credited with 60 enemy aircraft destroyed in the war, the second highest total of any pilot with the Royal Flying Corps.