Lieutenant Kenneth Bowman Watson was a Canadian World War I

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 ...

. He was credited with nine aerial victories. On 9 October 1918, he achieved the extraordinary feat of capturing two enemy airplanes during a dogfight.

Personal life

Kenneth Bowman Watson was born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, Canada on 5 June 1897. He died on 5 March 1960. Watson is buried in Bethesda Lutheran Cemetery,

Markham, Ontario Markham () is a city in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in York Region, fourth largest ...

, Canada. His wife, Hilda V. Darby Watson, is buried there with him.

World War I

Watson underwent his aviation training while still in Canada. He was posted overseas to France in 1917. On 13 August 1917, Watson was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

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

. He trained as a fighter pilot and was initially assigned to No. 28 Squadron in Italy. However, Watson would not achieve his first aerial success until after his transfer to No. 70 Squadron in France. After becoming an ace on 8 October, he scored two victories the following day. In an extraordinary feat, he singlehandedly 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 qu ...

and its German pilot into captivity and simultaneously cooperated with four other British pilots in a second capture of a D.VII and pilot. Watson earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor, though not for the twin captivities. The DFC would not be promulgated until after war's end.

List of aerial victories

Post World War I

Watson's Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted on 8 February 1919:

On 28th October, when on offensive patrol, this officer took part in an engagement between six of our machines and twenty-two Fokkers. In the combat that ensued four of the latter were destroyed, Lieut. Watson accounting for one. In addition to the foregoing he has four other machines to his credit.

On 12 July 1919 Kenneth Bowman Watson transferred to the unemployed list of the Royal Air Force and vanished into obscurity for the remainder of his life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Kenneth Bowman 1897 births 1960 deaths People from Hamilton, Ontario Canadian World War I flying aces Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)