John J. Cowell, (1889 – 30 July 1918) was an Irish soldier, airman and

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 ...

of the

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 ...

. He was credited with sixteen aerial victories; fifteen of these were gained as an observer/gunner and one as a pilot, before he was killed in action.

Early life and background

Cowell was born in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, one of ten children of Michael and Kate Cowell.

First World War

Cowell first served in the 12th Field Company of the Royal Engineers, where on 27 October 1916 Sapper (Acting Corporal) Cowell was awarded his first

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

. Cowell then transferred to the

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

, joining No. 20 Squadron as an observer/gunner during

Bloody April Bloody April was the (largely successful) British air support operation during the Battle of Arras in April 1917, during which particularly heavy casualties were suffered by the Royal Flying Corps at the hands of the German ''Luftstreitkräfte ...

1917. He manned the guns of a F.E.2d fighter for such other aces as

Richard M. Trevethan Squadron Leader Richard Michael Trevethan (24 January 1895 – 30 December 1971) was a British First World War flying ace credited with List of World War I aces credited with 11–14 victories, twelve aerial victories. Early life and background ...

Cecil Roy Richards Lieutenant Cecil Roy Richards was an Australian 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 require ...

, Reginald Condon, and Oliver Vickers. Between 5 May and 28 July 1917, Cowell gained fifteen victories, destroying a German two-seater reconnaissance aircraft and five German fighters, and driving down nine more German fighters out of control. He was promoted to sergeant, and awarded the

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...

, which was gazetted on 17 July 1917. His citation read: On 14 September 1917 Cowell received a

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

to his Military Medal. He then returned to the Home Establishment for flight training, rejoining No. 20 Squadron as a pilot in mid-1918. On 29 July 1918, while flying a

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

, Cowell drove down 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 qui ...

, his last, and only aerial victory as a pilot. He was killed in action the following day, shot down by

Friedrich Ritter von Röth Oberleutnant Friedrich Ritter von Röth (29 September 1893 – 31 December 1918) was a German World War I fighter ace with 28 victories. He was the most successful German pilot at the extremely hazardous practice of shooting down enemy obse ...

of '' Jasta 16''. Cowell is buried in

Longuenesse Longuenesse ( vls, Langenesse) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Longuenesse is a large suburb of Saint-Omer, one mile southwest of the centre, on the D928 road. Population Place ...

Souvenir Cemetery,

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audomar, ...

, France.

List of aerial victories

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowell, John 1889 births 1918 deaths Military personnel from Limerick (city) Royal Engineers soldiers Royal Flying Corps soldiers Royal Air Force airmen Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal Recipients of the Military Medal Irish World War I flying aces British Army personnel of World War I Royal Air Force personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I Aviators killed by being shot down