Captain Claud Harry Stokes (16 March 1884 – 7 November 1918) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

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 ...

credited with five aerial victories, all while flying the

Airco DH.4 The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited (Airco) was an early British aircraft manufacturer. Established during 1912, it grew rapidly during the First World War, referring to itself as the largest aircraft company in the world by 1918. Air ...

Biography

Stokes was born in

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

in south-east London, the youngest son of Henry and Harriet Stokes. From 1910 he worked as a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

, before returning to England with his wife and family in 1916. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) in the

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

on 3 June 1916. He was granted his

Royal Aero Club The Royal Aero Club (RAeC) is the national co-ordinating body for air sport in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1901 as the Aero Club of Great Britain, being granted the title of the "Royal Aero Club" in 1910. History The Aero Club was foun ...

Aviator's Certificate and appointed a flying officer on 24 August, and was confirmed in his rank on 19 September. Stokes was posted to No. 41 Squadron RFC on 15 October 1916, but was injured after only five days in action and returned to England. After his recovery he served as an instructor, being appointed a Wing Instructor in Gunnery, graded as a flight commander with the acting rank of captain on 3 February 1917. He was appointed an instructor in Gunnery, graded as an Equipment Officer 1st Class, on 5 June. Stokes was promoted to lieutenant on 3 December 1917, and on 2 January 1918 was appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain to serve in No. 57 Squadron RFC. He was credited with five victories while flying an

light bomber; firstly a Pfalz D.III on 19 June 1918, and then a

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...

on 23 June, two more on 16 September, and finally another D.VII on 21 September 1918. On the afternoon of 29 October 1918 his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire over

Maubeuge Maubeuge (; historical nl, Mabuse or nl, Malbode; pcd, Maubeuche) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated on both banks of the Sambre (here canalized), east of Valenciennes and about from the Belgian border ...

, France, and crashed behind the German lines. Stokes was badly injured and died as a result of his wounds on 7 November. His observer, Second Lieutenant Leslie Harvey Eyres (of MacGregor, Man., Canada) survived and was taken prisoner. Stokes was buried by the Germans in the cemetery at

Erquelinnes Erquelinnes (; wa, Erkelene) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Located on the border with France, where the commune of Maubeuge lies, Erquelinnes had a total resident population of 9,549, in 2006. The tot ...

, Belgium. Stokes was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 1 January 1919, and received a

mention in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

for "valuable services rendered during the War" on 3 June 1919. Somewhat ironically, his daughter, Margaret, would later marry a German living in South Africa,

Hanns Scharff Hanns-Joachim Gottlob Scharff (December 16, 1907 – September 10, 1992) was a German Luftwaffe interrogator during the Second World War. He has been called the "Master Interrogator" of the Luftwaffe, and possibly of all Nazi Germany; he has al ...

who, after being stranded back in Germany due to the outbreak of the Second World War, became the chief interrogator of the German ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'', responsible for interrogating captured Allied air force officers.

List of aerial victories

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Claud 1884 births 1918 deaths People from Blackheath, London Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War I British World War I flying aces Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) British military personnel killed in World War I Aviators killed by being shot down