Lieutenant Leslie Archibald Powell (27 June 1896 – 6 February 1961) was a First World War flying ace credited with 19 aerial victories. Throughout WWI, Powell served in the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.

Early life

Powell was born in Redland, Bristol, to Archibald George and Rosie Powell. He had a brother Geoffrey Edward Powell who was born in 1907. Powell was a journalist before the war, joining the ''

Western Daily Press The ''Western Daily Press'' is a regional newspaper covering parts of South West England, mainly Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset as well as the metropolitan areas of Bath and North East Somerset and the Bristol area. It is published Mon ...

'' in 1913.

Military service

Powell joined the Royal Navy in December 1914 and was posted to HMS ''Pembroke''. Between 1915 and 1916, Powell was posted at HMS ''President''. In February 1916, he transferred from 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 ...

as a Petty Officer Mechanic to the 8th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment. In April 1917, Powell transferred to the

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

, joining the No. 1 School of Military Aeronautics (SMA) in Reading. He was also sent to

Brooklands Aerodrome Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields ...

, Kent, before being posted to No. 11 Squadron in France in July 1917. He flew as an observer/gunner on the

Bristol F.2b The Bristol F.2 Fighter is a British First World War two-seat biplane Fighter aircraft, fighter and reconnaissance aircraft developed by Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter, ''"Brisfit ...

.
/ref> All but one of his victories came while he was teamed with Andrew McKeever. Powell's victory roll began with triple victories on both 7 July 1917 and 5 August. He would score another triple triumph on 31 October, and double victories on 23 September and 16 October 1917. He closed out his list with four victories on 30 November 1917, scored in a running dogfight between his plane and seven German fighters. Powell's Lewis machine gun jammed while they were being attacked by another German fighter. McKeever rolled the Bristol into what seemed a death dive, and the German sheered off. McKeever recovered at 20 feet altitude before managing to escape the surviving Germans. His only victory without McKeever was with

Geoffrey H. Hooper Geoffrey Herbert Hooper was an Australian World War I flying ace credited with eleven aerial victories, all against German fighter planes. World War I Hooper enlisted in the Royal Engineers on 1 November 1915. He transferred to the Royal Flyin ...

on 11 September 1917. On 25 January 1918, Powell and McKeever were withdrawn from combat duty and assigned to Home Establishment back in Britain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Leslie 1896 births 1961 deaths British World War I flying aces