Hawker was the first ace of
the British Commonwealth. An aggressive combat
pilot, his motto was "Attack Everything!" Flying
a B.E.2c armed with a few bombs and hand grenades,
he successfully attacked the Zeppelin shed
at Gontrode in April 1915 and was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order. An engineer, he
devised a mount for attaching a Lewis gun to
the Bristol Scout. While testing his invention,
he chased off one German aircraft and drove
down two others. For this action, he was the
first pilot to receive the Victoria Cross for
aerial combat. Hawker was killed in one of
the longest dogfights of the war. Flying the
Airco D.H.2, he engaged an Albatros D.II behind
German lines and was shot down by Manfred von
Richthofen. Hawker was the Red Baron's eleventh
victim.
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