Lieutenant Hartley Pullan (1899–1968) was a

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 ...

credited with five aerial victories.

Military career

Pullan entered 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 ...

as a cadet, and was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant (on probation) on 28 November 1917, only three weeks after his 18th birthday. He was posted to No. 25 Squadron RFC, to serve as an observer flying in the

Airco DH.4 The Airco DH.4 is a British two-seat biplane day bomber of the First World War. It was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland (hence "DH") for Airco, and was the first British two-seat light day-bomber capable of defending itself. It was desig ...

in early 1918. His first aerial victory came on 29 March, with pilot Second Lieutenant S. Jones, destroying an enemy two-seater over Foucaucourt. Soon afterwards, on 1 April, the Army's Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British ...

were merged to form the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. Pullan was confirmed in his rank two months later on 20 May. His second victory came on 8 June, flying with Lieutenant W. H. G. Milnes, driving down out of control a Fokker Dr.I between

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

and

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

. His next two victories were both with pilot Lieutenant L. Young over Lille, destroying a Pfalz D.III on 24 July, and driving down another on 4 August. His fifth and final victory was while flying with Lieutenant J. H. Latchford, driving down another Pfalz D.III over

Douai Douai ( , , ; ; ; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord département in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe (rive ...

on 22 August. Pullan was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, 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 ...

in September 1918. His citation read: :Second Lieutenant Hartley Pullan. ::"This officer has taken part in numerous long-distance bombing raids and reconnaissances. His work has been consistently good. On a recent occasion when on photographic reconnaissance he was attacked by three scouts; he shot one down and the other two dived away. A few minutes later he was again attacked, this time by five triplanes, one of which he shot down out of control." He was promoted to lieutenant on 30 November 1918. Pullen left the RAF after the war, being transferred to the unemployed list on 10 April 1919.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pullan, Hartley 1899 births 1968 deaths People from Knaresborough Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War I British World War I flying aces Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)