Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor. South Africa
An often overlooked aspect of the First World War is the German South West Africa campaign, in which British and South African forces invaded the German colony of South West Africa. The Germans surrendered their colony and forces in 1915. Proctor, a native of South Africa, served in the campaign and was discharged after its successful conclusion. He returned to college at the University of Cape Town, completing his third year of study, before enlisting again, this time in the Royal Flying Corps. Proctor stood just 5′ 2″ in height, requiring special modifications to the cockpit of his plane to allow him to manipulate the controls.
Called Prockie by his fellow pilots, he arrived in France in September 1917, piloting the British SE5. He did not achieve a victory until January of 1918, and did not become an Ace until the end of February. Throughout his early days Prockie’s flying was heavily criticized as being poor, possibly due to the modifications to his controls. His shooting however was considered to be excellent.
By the spring of 1918 Prockie was concentrating on attacking observation balloons and aircraft. While observation aircraft had their own dangers inherent when attacking them due to the armed observer, balloons were considered a special hazard. Balloons were usually protected by both ground fire and escorting aircraft, due to their value in spotting ground based artillery.
Prockie, almost inevitably, was teamed for most of his service with a wing man who stood over 6′ 4″, although the two got along well and worked well together, in the air and on the ground. When attacking balloons his wing man would act to divert the fighters, allowing Prockie an unhindered attack on the balloon itself, if he avoided ground fire. By the end of the summer of 1918 Prockie had destroyed more than a dozen German balloons.
In October 1918 Prockie was wounded by ground based anti-aircraft fire and he was still recovering when the war ended. He shot down 54 enemy aircraft in the war, including 16 balloons, earning the Victoria Cross, the DSO, and the new award for aviators, the DFC. He remained in the RAF after the war and recovering from his wound, dying in the crash of a Sopwith Snipe in 1919 while rehearsing for an air show.