Zenos Ramsey Miller (13 September 1895 – 22 July 1922) was an American pursuit pilot and a

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 ...

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 ...

.Franks (1992) Over the Front: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914-1918 , Grub Street the Basement; First edition (May 1992),

Biography

Born in Pao Ting Fu, China, Miller joined the

Air Service, United States Army The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial warf ...

in 1917 during World War I. After pilot training in the United States, Lieutenant Miller was assigned to the

27th Aero Squadron The 27th Aero Squadron was a United States Army Air Service unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I. The squadron was assigned as a Day Pursuit (Fighter) Squadron as part of the 1st Pursuit Group, First United States Army. It ...

1st Pursuit Group First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

First Army Air Service The First Army Air Service was an Air Service, United States Army unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I as part of the Air Service, First United States Army. The First Army Air Service was the largest and most diverse Air Ser ...

on 24 November 1917. Scoring his first two victories on the afternoon and evening of 16 July 1918, Miller shot down an enemy balloon over Gland and later forced down a second balloon while dogfighting three Fokkers. He scored a third victory shooting down a

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 ...

on 19 July. During his tour of duty, he had the bad luck to decapitate a French worker who had been cutting the grass at Toul (Gengault Aerodrome) when he flew in to land after one patrol, and after another he accidentally set fire to his own aircraft which was destroyed along with the canvas hangar it was in. On 20 July 1918, he took off on a combat patrol he shot down two enemy aircraft, becoming his total to five, and becoming an air ace. However, the flight ran into severe weather which caused three

SPAD S.XIII The SPAD S.XIII is a French biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War, developed by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII. During early 1917, the French designer Louis Béc ...

s to crash inside enemy territory. Two of the pilots were killed; Lt. Miller survived but was made a Prisoner of War (POW). Upon returning from the POW camp his report of the last flight was confirmed. After the war he was demobilized he entered

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

and became a doctor. In 1921, a friend of his, Dr. Clarence Gamble, had purchased an old

Savoia-Marchetti SIAI-Marchetti was an Italian aircraft manufacturer primarily active during the interwar period. History The original company was founded during 1915 as SIAI (''Società Idrovolanti Alta Italia'' - Seaplane Company of Upper Italy). As suggested ...

plane and was attempting to make a transcontinental flight from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. On 22 July 1922, shortly before the flight, Miller, his brother Ralph, and Gamble were flying over Boston "for a last look at the scene of their medical studies and were returning to the filed preparatory to setting out on the first leg of their journey" when the aircraft went into a spin and crashed into a swamp near

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popu ...

, killing Miller. "Pilot Killed, Owner Dying in Plane's Fall", ''Boston Globe'', July 23, 1922, p. 1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Zenos Ramsey 1895 births 1922 deaths American World War I flying aces United States Army officers Princeton University alumni Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Accidental deaths in Massachusetts

Biography

See also

References