Captain Louis Fleeming Jenkin,

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

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, (22 August 1895 – 11 September 1917) was a

First World War 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 22 victories.

Early life and service

Jenkin was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, on 22 August 1895 to Austin Fleeming Jenkin and Betty Jenkin. He originally served with the 9th Battalion, Loyal North

Lancashire Fusiliers The Lancashire Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that saw distinguished service through many years and wars, including the Second Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, and had many different titles throughout its 28 ...

. In the opening days of the First World War, on 24 September 1914, he was commissioned as a Temporary Second Lieutenant in that unit.

Royal Flying Corps

Jenkin transferred to the

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

on 19 April 1917. He was posted to No. 1 Squadron on 15 May 1917. The squadron had just equipped for fighter operations with

Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 C.1 (or Nieuport XVII C.1 in contemporary sources) was a French sesquiplane fighter designed and manufactured by the Nieuport company during World War I. An improvement over the Nieuport 11, it was a little larger than earlier N ...

s in February. On 23 May, Jenkin scored his initial victory. In less than a month, he was an ace, winning his fifth triumph on 8 June. By the end of June, his tally stood at 11. He nearly doubled that in July, ending the month with 20 victories. He was given command of a

flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

on 31 July, and promoted to temporary

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He was awarded the

on 16 August 1917, the citation read: He had no further victories until early September, when he drove down enemy planes a week apart, on the 4th and 11th. He was shot down later in the day on the 11th, after his morning victory, by

Otto Schmidt Otto Yulyevich Shmidt, be, Ота Юльевіч Шміт, Ota Juljevič Šmit (born Otto Friedrich Julius Schmidt; – 7 September 1956), better known as Otto Schmidt, was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesm ...

of Jasta 29. The award of

to his MC was announced on 17 September, the citation read: A final summary of his victories is two enemy airplanes destroyed on fire; six others destroyed singlehanded; two destroyed in cooperation with another pilot; twelve driven down out of control. He is commemorated on the Arras Flying Memorial.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkin, Louis Fleeming 1895 births 1917 deaths Lancashire Fusiliers officers British Army personnel of World War I Royal Flying Corps officers Recipients of the Military Cross British World War I flying aces British military personnel killed in World War I Aviators killed by being shot down People from Newington, London