Lieutenant Leonard Arthur Christian 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 ...

credited with nine aerial victories scored while he flew as an observer/gunner on Airco DH.9 bombers.

Early life

Christian was born on a farm near Armstrong, British Columbia, Canada on 9 May 1889. HIs parents were Josephine E. and Joseph W. Christian. He was a

bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

horse breeder Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in ...

until he joined the military for World War I.

World War I

Christian underwent pilot's training and graduated as a probationary Flying Officer in

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. However, because he was phobic about heights, he volunteered to serve as an aerial observer instead. He was posted to 6 Naval Squadron as an observer/gunner in Airco DH.9s and remained in the unit as it transformed into 206 Squadron of the Royal Air Force. Four months later, he began the victory tally that would run through 1 August 1918. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his defensive valor during the 47 bombing raids that he flew. His Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted on 21 September 1918: Lieutenant Leonard Arthur Christian (late R.N.A.S.)

List of aerial victories

Although trained as a pilot, Christian scored all his victories as an observer/gunner on a bomber. See also

Aerial victory standards of World War I Aerial may refer to: Music * ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush * ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down Bands * Aerial (Canadian band) * Aerial (Scottish band) *Aerial (Swedish band) Performance art *Aerial silk ...

Post World War I

On 23 August 1919, Christian was placed on the Royal Air Force's unemployed list. He returned to his horse farm to breed race horses. He returned to service in the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

for World War II. Leonard Arthur Christian died on 23 January 1955 and is interred in Mountain View Cemetery and Crematorium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=christian&GSfn=L&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1955&GSdyrel=in&GScntry=10&GSob=n&GRid=26275082&df=all& Retrieved 3 July 2011.

References

* Franks, Norman; Guest, Russell; Alegi, Gregory. ''Above the War Fronts: the British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and the Belgian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914-1918: Volume 4 of Fighting Airmen of WWI Series: Volume 4 of Air Aces of WWI.'' Grub Street, 1997. , .

Endnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Leonard Arthur 1889 births 1955 deaths Canadian World War I flying aces People from the Okanagan Royal Naval Air Service aviators Canadian recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)