| The son of a school teacher, Beauchamp
Proctor was South Africa's highest scoring ace
during World War I. When the war began, he was
a student of engineering at the University of
Cape Town but abandoned his studies to join the
army. He served as a signaller in the Duke of
Edinburgh's Own Rifles and saw action in German
South-West Africa before his discharge from the
army in August 1915. After completing his education,
Beauchamp Proctor joined the Royal Flying Corps
in March 1917 and was commissioned upon his arrival
in England. Having successfully completed pilot
training, he was posted to 84 Squadron in late
July and accompanied this unit to France in September
1917. An S.E.5a pilot, Beauchamp Proctor was
just five feet two inches tall. His height made
it necessary to raise the seat and modify the
controls of the aircraft he flew. Despite these
difficulties and a crash on 11 March 1918, Beauchamp
Proctor claimed 54 victories that year and became
the British Empire's highest scoring balloon
buster.
Proctor was practicing aerobatics in Sopwith Snipe E8220
on the 21st July 1921 for the Hendon Air Pageant.
He appeared to lose control while performing a slow roll off
the top of a loop, went into a spin and crashed fatally. |
