Lieutenant (later

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

) Kenneth Russell Unger was an American 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 ...

credited with fourteen aerial victories. His candidacy rejected by his own nation, Unger applied to the British

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

for military pilot training in June 1917. Once trained, he was assigned to the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

(RNAS). As the RNAS was merged into the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, Unger scored his aerial victories between 26 June and 1 November 1918. In later life, Unger remained involved in aviation and served again during World War II. He also joined the U.S. Navy Reserves, rising to the rank of

Early training

Unger took private instruction with the Aero Club of America, earning Certificate No. 1356. Nevertheless, the

United States Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...

rejected him for enlistment, so he went to Canada to join the

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

in June 1917. Ironically, his RFC training took him back to Texas. He then transited England on his way to service with

No. 10 Squadron RNAS ("Hovering in the Heavens")Halley 1988, p. 274. , colors= , colors_label= , march= , mascot= , equipment= , equipment_label= , battles= , anniversaries= , decorations= , battle_honours= Western Front, 1916–18 Ypres 1917 Lys Atlantic 1939–45 A ...

, in France as a

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 ...

pilot.

Aerial victories

Unger opened his victory roll by sharing in a quadruple victory with Captain

Lawrence Coombes Lawrence Percival Coombes (9 April 1899 – 3 June 1988) was a British-Australian aeronautical engineer who served as the first Chief Superintendent of the Australian Aeronautical Research Laboratories from 1938 until 1964. He had previously wo ...

and Lieutenant Ivan Sanderson; the trio shot down the distinctively marked

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 ...

of German naval ace Kurt Schönfelder, and drove down a D.VII and two

Pfalz D.III The Pfalz D.III was a fighter aircraft used by the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during the First World War. The D.III was the first major original design from Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Though generally considered inferior to c ...

s out of control on 26 June 1918. His next victory, when he drove down another Fokker D.VII, took place on 20 July. He scored again on 31 July, then took a break. He resumed with a win on 24 September and ran his total to thirteen by 30 October 1918. That was the sortie on which he took on seven enemy Fokkers despite his

's engine running rough. Two days later, Lieutenant Unger became a

balloon buster Balloon busters were military pilots known for destroying enemy observation balloons. These pilots were noted for their fearlessness, as balloons were stationary targets able to receive heavy defenses, from the ground and the air. Seventy-seven fl ...

, destroying an enemy observation balloon. His final tally was seven enemy aircraft destroyed and seven driven down out of control; with the exception of the balloon and one observation plane, his victories were all over enemy fighters, principally Fokker D.VIIs. His reward for his efforts, a Distinguished Flying Cross, was not gazetted until 7 February 1919.

Post World War I

Postwar, Unger became a U. S. Air Mail pilot, flying the Oakland to Salt Lake City route. On 19 September 1927, he was reportedly on the brink on competition in an air derby in Spokane, Washington; after the derby, he was going to fly down the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

, across Panama, and up the Atlantic Coast in an amphibian.(Associated Press news, as reported in ''The Morning Herald'', Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 19 September 1927) http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/newspaper-articles/31547-plans-coastline-flight-n-y.html Retrieved on 20 June 2010. He also had his own aviation school at the

Hadley Airport Hadley Airport is a public use airport owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and located four nautical miles (7 km) southwest of the central business district of Round Mountain, a town in Nye County, Nevada, United States. History ...

, where he performed in air shows. During one of his exhibitions in 1932, his airplane broke up but he parachuted to safety. Despite having 10,000 flying hours behind him, in April 1943 he was back in aviation school.(''The San Antonio Express'', 16 April 1943) http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/newspaper-articles/31549-world-war-ace-back-navy-service.html Retrieved on 20 June 2010. He returned to service as a Lieutenant Commander in the U. S. Navy during February 1943; he flew transport planes. He eventually attained the rank of

in the Naval Reserve. He retired to Florida in 1958; he died there on 6 January 1979.

References

Bibliography

* ''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. , . * ''American Aces of World War I.'' Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey. Osprey Publishing, 2001. , . {{DEFAULTSORT:Unger, Kenneth R. American World War I flying aces Aviators from New Jersey 1979 deaths 1898 births

Early training

Aerial victories

Post World War I

See also

References

Bibliography