Philip
Fullard
Name: Philip Fletcher
Fullard
Country: England
Rank: Captain
Service: Royal Flying Corps
Units: 1
Victories: 40
Date Of Birth: June 27, 1897
Place of Birth: Hatfield
Date Of Death: April 24, 1984
In 1916, Fullard transferred from the Royal Fusiliers to the
Royal Flying Corps and was an instructor before being assigned to
France in April of 1917. Scoring 40 victories that year, Fullard
was the highest scoring ace in 1 Squadron and the highest scoring
ace to fly Nieuport Scouts. Three days before the final British
offensive at Cambrai on November 17, 1917, he suffered a broken
leg during an off-duty football match and was unfit for duty until
September of the following year. When the war ended, Fullard
remained in the Royal Air Force, attained the rank of Air
Commodore and retired from service at the end of World War II.
The Glasgow Times, January 7, 1918 "Bag of Four in One Day"
,Captain Philip Fletcher Fullard, D.S.O., M.C., aged 20, is a
fair, curly-haired, good-looking boy, clear-eyed and
fresh-complexioned, with regular features. He went fresh from
school into an officers' training corps. He has flown in France
for about six months and during that time has brought down 42
enemy machines and three balloons.
,In a single day (says the "Daily Mail") he brought down four
German aeroplanes - his record day's "bag." On another occasion he
and another airman brought down seven enemy machines before
breakfast, Fullard accounting for three of them. Up to the middle
of October of 1917 the squadron to which he belongs had brought
down 200 enemy machines, and their number now stands at about 250.
,The outstanding feature of Captain Fullard's record is the few
casualties his "flight" has suffered. For three months he worked
with the same flight of six pilots without a casualty among them,
and in that time they brought down more enemy machines than any
other flight in France. His achievements are widely known among
the flying men at the front, and the French call him "the English
ace."