Captain William Thomas Price (15 November 1895 – 17 January 1982) was a 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 ...

who hailed from

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England. He was credited with seven aerial victories at a time when British aviation was suffering its heaviest casualties of the war. After leaving military service, he devoted his life to teaching agriculture until his retirement in 1962.

Early life

William Thomas Price was born in

Acocks Green Acocks Green is an area and ward of southeast Birmingham, England. It is named after the Acock family, who built a large house there in 1370. Acocks Green is one of four wards making up Yardley formal district. It is occasionally spelled "Acoc ...

, Yardley, Warwickshire, England, on 15 November 1895. He was educated at Christ's College, London, as well as at

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

World War I

He began his military service in the

Royal Warwickshire Regiment The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, previously titled the 6th Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. The regiment saw service in many conflicts and wars, including the Second Boer War ...

, being commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant on 26 August 1915. Price volunteered for aviation duty and undertook pilot's training. On 28 November 1916, he was appointed a flying officer; this appointment signified his qualification as a pilot. He was seconded from the

to the

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

for duty. He was one of the founding members of No. 48 Squadron RFC, and served with them piloting a two-seater

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

. Price became a

during

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; British aviation suffered their heaviest casualties of World War I during that month. He scored two further victories on 9 May 1917, only to be shot down in turn by

Lothar von Richthofen Lothar Siegfried Freiherr von Richthofen (27 September 1894 – 4 July 1922) was a German First World War fighter ace credited with 40 victories. He was a younger brother of top-scoring ace Manfred von Richthofen (the ''Red Baron'') and a di ...

. Despite being wounded, he managed to land his aircraft in friendly territory north-east of

Fampoux Fampoux () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography A farming village situated east of Arras, on the D42 road. The A1 autoroute passes by the village about half a mile away. Population P ...

, France. On 1 July 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant, and was awarded the

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 ...

for his gallantry on this occasion, which was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

on 18 July 1917: :"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. His machine being disabled by hostile fire, and his gun out of action, he managed by skilful handling to effect a safe landing, thus saving the machine and his passenger from capture. He has previously done fine work against hostile aircraft." On 1 March 1918, Price was appointed a flight commander with the accompanying temporary rank of captain, and transferred to the

General List The General Service Corps (GSC) is a corps of the British Army. Role The role of the corps is to provide specialists, who are usually on the Special List or General List. These lists were used in both World Wars for specialists and those not allo ...

of the RFC.

List of aerial victories

Post World War I

On 4 February 1919, Price transferred to the unemployed list of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. After leaving military service, he taught agricultural techniques until his retirement in 1962. He died on 17 January 1982, in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

in his native

, England.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Price, William 1895 births 1982 deaths People from Yardley Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers officers Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War I British World War I flying aces Recipients of the Military Cross Alumni of the University of Reading