Lieutenant George Edgar Bruce Lawson was a South African

World War I 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 six aerial victories.

Early life

Lawson was born on 26 April 1899 in Cape Town, Cape Colony. After the Union of South Africa was formed the family travelled by train and then by ox wagon to Johannesburg.

World War I

Lawson was assigned to 32 Squadron in April 1918. He scored his first victory on 7 June 1918, driving down 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 ...

while flying Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a No. C1881. He then used No. E1399 to drive down two

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 qui ...

s and destroy three others during September 1918. The last of those triumphs, his second of 27 September, resulted in the death in action of noted German ace

Fritz Rumey Leutnant Fritz Rumey (3 March 1891 – 27 September 1918) ''Pour le Mérite'', Golden Military Merit Cross was a German fighter pilot in the First World War, credited with 45 victories. He was one of only five German soldiers who won both of ...

of ''

Jagdstaffel 5 History Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 5, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 5, was created on January 21, 1916, and mobilized on 21 August 1916, as one of the first fighter units of the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the Imperial German Arm ...

''. Lawson and Rumey collided in midair. Rumey bailed out, but his parachute failed to open. Lawson nursed his crippled plane back to the British lines. He was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The citation read:

Postwar

Lawson joined the

South African Air Force "Through hardships to the stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment ...

in 1922. He was killed in an accident on 19 November 1922 while riding as a passenger in an Airco DH.9.

Notes

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. , .
Medals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, George 1922 deaths Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) South African aviators 1899 births South African World War I flying aces Military personnel from Cape Town Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1922 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in South Africa