Captain Carleton Main Clement (15 May 1896 – 19 August 1917) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

First World War

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

officially credited with 14 victories despite being handicapped by flying an obsolete plane.

Early life and service

Clement attended

Victoria University, Toronto Victoria University is a federated university forming part of the wider University of Toronto, and was founded in 1836. The undergraduate section of the university is Victoria College, informally ''Vic'', after the original name of the univers ...

, before serving as a private in the 47th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. His enlistment form of 17 June 1915 gives his next of kin as W. H. P. Clement, and claims that Clement had previously served as a commissioned officer in the "B. C. Horse". He was half an inch shy of six feet tall, with fair hair and complexion and blue eyes.

Aerial service

He transferred to the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

, being commissioned in March 1916. His assignment to 22 Squadron had him piloting the outmoded

Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2 Between 1911 and 1914, the Royal Aircraft Factory used the F.E.2 (Farman Experimental 2) designation for three quite different aircraft that shared only a common "Farman" pusher biplane layout. The third "F.E.2" type was operated as a day and n ...

b, with observers such as Llewelyn Davies manning the front guns. Between 4 December 1916 and 5 June 1917, he flew this obsolescent model to victory over eight different German Albatros fighters, sometimes teaming with such other aces as

Gerald Gordon Bell Captain Gerald Gordon Bell (11 June 1890 – unknown) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with sixteen aerial victories while serving in the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. World War I Bell was born ...

, and earning the MC in the process. Towards the end of this run, he downed German ace Kurt Schneider; Schneider would suffer with an infected thigh wound until succumbing on 14 July. Clement then switched to piloting

Bristol F.2 Fighter The Bristol F.2 Fighter is a British First World War two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft developed by Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter, ''"Brisfit"'' or ''"Bif ...

s. He and Davies set a reconnaissance plane afire on 29 July 1917. Clement scored again on 10 August. Then, two days later, he set an

Albatros D.V The Albatros D.V is a fighter aircraft built by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatro ...

afire, drove another down out of control, and teamed with other pilots to drive two more D.Vs down out of control.

Death in action

On 19 August, Clement was shot down and killed by antiaircraft fire from Flakzug 99.

Hugh Trenchard Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force. He has been described as the "Father of the ...

himself sent a telegram of regret to 22 Squadron.

References

* ''Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920'' Christopher F. Shores, Norman L. R. Franks, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1990. , . * ''Pusher Aces of World War 1'' Jon Guttman, Harry Dempsey. Osprey Pub Co, 2009. , .

Notes

Websites

Canadian aviators Canadian World War I flying aces Canadian recipients of the Military Cross Royal Flying Corps officers 1896 births 1917 deaths Royal Westminster Regiment British military personnel killed in World War I People from Old Toronto University of Toronto alumni Canadian Army soldiers Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers Military personnel from Toronto {{aviation-bio-stub