Captain Carleton Main Clement (15 May 1896 – 19 August 1917) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

First World War

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

officially credited with 14 victories.

Early life and service

Clement attended

Victoria University, Toronto Victoria University is a federated college of the University of Toronto located at the St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. The school was founded in 1836 by the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Canada as a nonsectarian literary institution. From ...

, before serving as a private in the 47th Battalion of the

Canadian Expeditionary Force The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF; French: ''Corps expéditionnaire canadien'') was the expeditionary warfare, expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed on August 15, 1914, following United Kingdom declarat ...

. His enlistment form of 17 June 1915 gives his next of kin as W. H. P. Clement, and claims that Clement had previously served as a commissioned officer in the "B. C. Horse". He was half an inch shy of six feet tall, with fair hair and complexion and blue eyes.

Aerial service

He transferred to the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

, being commissioned in March 1916. His assignment to 22 Squadron had him piloting the outmoded

Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2 Between 1911 and 1914, the Royal Aircraft Factory used the F.E.2 ("Farman Experimental 2") designation for three quite different aircraft that shared only a common "Farman" pusher biplane layout. The third "F.E.2" type was operated as a day a ...

b, with observers such as

Llewelyn Davies Llewelyn Davies is the formal surname of the family whose boys inspired J. M. Barrie to create the characters of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys: * Llewelyn Davies, Arthur, father of the boys * Llewelyn Davies, Sylvia, mother of the boys The boys, in ...

manning the front guns. Between 4 December 1916 and 5 June 1917, he flew this obsolescent model to victory over eight different German

Albatros An albatross is one of a family of large winged seabirds. Albatross or Albatros may also refer to: Animals * Albatross (butterfly) or ''Appias'', a genus of butterfly * Albatross (horse) (1968–1998), a Standardbred horse Literature * Albat ...

fighters, sometimes teaming with such other aces as

Gerald Gordon Bell Captain Gerald Gordon Bell (11 June 1890 – 7 October 1970) was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with sixteen aerial victories while serving in the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. World War I Bell w ...

, and earning the MC in the process. Towards the end of this run, he downed German ace

Kurt Schneider Kurt Schneider (7 January 1887 – 27 October 1967) was a German psychiatrist known largely for his writing on the diagnosis and understanding of schizophrenia, as well as personality disorders then known as psychopathic personalities. ...

; Schneider would suffer with an infected thigh wound until succumbing on 14 July. Clement then switched to piloting Bristol F.2 Fighters. He and Davies set a reconnaissance plane afire on 29 July 1917. Clement scored again on 10 August. Then, two days later, he set an Albatros D.V afire, drove another down out of control, and teamed with other pilots to drive two more D.Vs down out of control.

Death in action

On 19 August, Clement was shot down and killed by antiaircraft fire from Flakzug 99.

Hugh Trenchard Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British military officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force. He has been described as the "Fat ...

himself sent a telegram of regret to 22 Squadron.

References

* ''Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920'' Christopher F. Shores, Norman L. R. Franks, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1990. , . * ''Pusher Aces of World War 1'' Jon Guttman, Harry Dempsey. Osprey Pub Co, 2009. , .

Notes

Websites

Canadian aviators Canadian World War I flying aces Canadian recipients of the Military Cross Royal Flying Corps officers 1896 births 1917 deaths Royal Westminster Regiment British military personnel killed in World War I People from Old Toronto University of Toronto alumni Canadian Army soldiers Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers Military personnel from Toronto {{aviation-bio-stub