Lieutenant Lansing Colton Holden, Jr. was a

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 seven aerial victories.

World War I service

Holden dropped out of

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

and went to France to join the fight. He was originally attached to French aviation's Escadrille 461 in April 1918 to defend Paris against German air attack. He then transferred to the 95th Aero Squadron in July as a

Spad XIII The SPAD S.XIII is a French biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War, developed by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII. During early 1917, the French designer Louis Béc ...

pilot. He survived being shot down on 10 August before he scored his first victory on 29 September 1918. After destroying that German observation balloon, it would take him almost a month to score again; on 23 October, Holden teamed with

Edward Peck Curtis Edward Peck "Ted" Curtis (14 January 1897 – 13 March 1987) was a World War I flying ace with six aerial victories. Between the world wars, he served as vice president of Eastman Kodak's international division. In World War II he served as th ...

to 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 ...

at 1630 hours, and then shot down another balloon solo. Four days later, Holden shot down a

Hannover CL Hannoversche Waggonfabrik AG was a German aircraft manufacturer of the World War I era. It was known as a railway rolling stock constructor until required by the German government in 1916 to start the construction of aeroplanes. The aircraft branc ...

. He turned

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 ...

again for his last three victories, on 30 October and 3 and 4 November 1918.

Postwar life

Holden returned to college at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, graduated, and took up his father's Lansing C. Holden, Sr. profession of architect. He returned to France in 1923, attended the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

in Paris where he studied illustration, and married. The following year, he took up arms again, serving as a captain during the

Rif War The Rif War () was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by History of France, France in 1924) and the Berbers, Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco. Led by Abd el-Krim, the Riffians at ...

in Morocco, and winning the Légion d'honneur. In 1932, he briefly went to Hollywood to work on movies, notably with ''

She She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

'' (1935) and ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...

'' (1935), with him serving as director and production illustrator on the former (it was the only feature film he would ever direct). Holden illustrated an unofficial history of the 95th Aero called ''Squadron 95'', written by fellow squadron member Harold Robert Buckley in 1933 The book has been in publication as recently as 1972. He then returned to New York. He became an officer in the

Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...

's 102nd Observation Squadron. On 13 November 1938, while attempting a landing in dodgy weather, he crashed to his death near

Sparta, Tennessee Sparta is a city in and the county seat of White County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 5,001 in 2020.U.S. Census we ...

Honors and awards

Text of citation for the ''Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)'', as promulgated in General Orders No. 46, War Department, 1919: The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Lansing Colton Holden, Jr., First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Montigny, France, October 23, 1918. Lieutenant Holden was ordered to attack several German balloons, reported to be regulating effective artillery fire on our troops. After driving off an enemy plane, encountered before reaching the balloons, he soon came upon five balloons in ascension one kilometer apart. In attacking the first, which proved to be a decoy with a basket, his guns jammed; after clearing them he attacked the second balloon, forcing the observer to jump. His guns again jammed before he could set fire to this balloon. Moving on the third balloon at a height of only 50 meters, he set fire to it and compelled the observer to jump. He was prevented from attacking the two remaining balloons by the further jamming of his machine gun. Text of citation for the ''Oak Leaf Cluster'' for the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) as promulgated in General Orders No. 46, War Department, 1919: The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Lansing Colton Holden, Jr., First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near St. Jean de Buzy, France, November 4, 1918. Flying at a low altitude to evade hostile pursuit patrols, Lieutenant Holden attacked a German observation balloon in the face of antiaircraft and machine-gun fire. Although the balloon was being rapidly pulled own, he set fire to it in its nest and also caused much damage to adjacent buildings.Lansing Holden
''The Aerodrome''

References

External links

Lansing Holden
''The Aerodrome'' * 1896 births 1938 deaths Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States) American World War I flying aces People from Brooklyn Film directors from New York City {{Authority control

World War I service

Postwar life

Honors and awards

See also

References

Further reading

External links