Group Captain John Kenneth Summers (born 22 December 1894, date of death unknown) was a British

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 eight aerial victories.

Early life and background

Summers was born on

Shamian Island Shamian (also romanized as Shameen or Shamin, both from its Cantonese pronunciation) is a sandbank island in the Liwan District of Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. The island's name literally means "sandy surface" in Chinese. The territory ...

, the British

Concession Concession may refer to: General * Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to opera ...

Canton, China Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kong ...

, where his father, J. A. Summers, was an employee of the

Imperial Maritime Customs Service The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was a Chinese governmental tax collection agency and information service from its founding in 1854 until it split in 1949 into services operating in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and in the People's Republ ...

. Later he attended the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

World War I

Summers was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant on 25 January 1915, and served in the 13th Battalion,

Royal Warwickshire Regiment The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, previously titled the 6th Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. The regiment saw service in many conflicts and wars, including the Second Boer War ...

, until transferred to the General List on 30 April to serve in the

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

. As an observer he served in No. 3 Squadron RFC, and later trained as a pilot. Summers was awarded

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 ...

Aviators' Certificate No. 2154 on 13 December 1915, after soloing a Maurice Farman biplane at the Military School at

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. On completing his training he was appointed a flying officer on 29 February 1916. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 July 1916, and appointed a flight commander with the acting-rank of captain on 8 March 1917. On 9 April 1917 he received a

mention in despatches 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 "distinguished and gallant services and devotion to duty" from Field-Marshal

Sir Douglas Haig Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior officer of the British Army. During the First World War, he commanded the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front from late 1915 until ...

, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Armies in France, and on 18 July 1917 was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

. His citation read: :Temporary Second Lieutenant (Temporary Captain) John Kenneth Summers, General List, and R.F.C. ::"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He has continuously performed valuable work in co-operating with the artillery. He has on many occasions flown at a very low altitude in order to give information to the infantry, which has proved of the utmost value." In June 1918, Summers was posted to

No. 209 Squadron RAF Number 209 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force was originally formed from a nucleus of "Naval Eight" on 1 February 1917 at Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, France, as No. 9 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS)Rawlings 1978, p. 324. and saw active servic ...

, to fly the

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

single seat fighter. Between 23 June and 11 August he accounted for eight enemy aircraft; four destroyed (one shared), three driven down out of control (two shared), and one shared capture. However, on 12 August 1918 his aircraft was shot down by

Lothar von Richthofen Lothar Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen (27 September 1894 – 4 July 1922) was a German First World War fighter ace credited with 40 victories. He was a younger brother of top-scoring ace Manfred von Richthofen (the ''Red Baron'') and a di ...

of ''

Jasta 11 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 11 ("No 11 Fighter Squadron"; commonly abbreviated to Jasta 11) was founded on 28 September 1916 from elements of 4 Armee's “Kampfeinsitzer” or KEKs) 1, 2 and 3 and mobilized on 11 October as part of the Germ ...

'', and Summers was taken prisoner. He was held as a POW until after the armistice, finally being repatriated in December 1918.

List of aerial victories

Inter-war career

Summers remained in the RAF post-war, being awarded a permanent commission with the rank of

flight lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

on 1 August 1919. He served as an instructor, moving from

No. 2 Flying Training School No.2 Flying Training School is a Flying Training School (FTS) of the Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force (RAF). It is part of No. 22 Group RAF, No. 22 (Training) Group that delivers glider flying training to the Royal Air Force Air Cadets. Its head ...

to No. 5 Flying Training School on 18 January 1922, then serving at the

Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school. The school was based at R ...

between 13 March and 1 July 1922, before returning to No. 5 FTS. On 14 September 1923 he was posted to No. 45 Squadron, based in Iraq, receiving promotion to squadron leader on 1 July 1925. On 18 January 1927 he was transferred to No. 70 Squadron, Iraq, then to No. 47 Squadron, Egypt, on 14 February 1927, then returning to No. 45 Squadron, now based in Egypt, on 25 April 1927. He returned to the UK when posted to the Headquarters of the

Air Defence of Great Britain The Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) was a RAF command comprising substantial army and RAF elements responsible for the air defence of the British Isles. It lasted from 1925, following recommendations that the RAF take control of homeland air ...

at Uxbridge on 23 December 1928. On 1 January 1933 Summers was promoted to wing commander. He published a book ''Practical Air Navigation Simply Explained'' in 1935, and served as commander of the School of Air Navigation at

RAF Manston Royal Air Force Manston or more simply RAF Manston is a former Royal Air Force station located in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site was split between a commercial airport Kent International Airpor ...

up to 1 October 1936. He was promoted to group captain on 1 January 1938, serving on the staff of

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

as head of the navigation section.

World War II

On 1 January 1941 Summers received his second mention in despatches from the

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

, and from July 1941 to December 1942 was

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

, No. 24 Combined Air Observation School (24 CAOS), which provided training under the

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zea ...

to British, Commonwealth, and European aircrew. The school was located at RAF Moffat, near

Gwelo Gweru is a city in central Zimbabwe. Near the geographical centre of the country. It is on the centre of Midlands Province. Originally an area known to the Ndebele as "The Steep Place" because of the Gweru River's high banks, in 1894 it became ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

. He retired from the Royal Air Force on 1 March 1943.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, John 1894 births Year of death missing People from Guangzhou Alumni of the University of Birmingham Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers officers Royal Flying Corps officers British World War I flying aces Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Air Force officers British World War I prisoners of war World War I prisoners of war held by Germany British Army personnel of World War I