Lieutenant William Harry Bland (6 June 1898

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Presidency of Bombay The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

, Raj of India,

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– 24 October 1962

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, Commonwealth of Canada) was a British

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.

Biography

Bland was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant on probation from cadet on 10 January 1918, and was confirmed in that rank on 15 May 1918. He was posted to 65 Squadron flying the

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 ...

, and between September and November 1918 he downed seven

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 ...

s. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Bronze Star by France in April 1919. Bland was transferred to the unemployed list on 30 July 1919.

References

1898 births 1962 deaths Royal Flying Corps officers British World War I flying aces Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) British people in colonial India British emigrants to Canada {{Canada-mil-bio-stub