Edward Corringham “Mick” Mannock was born on 24 May 1887, the son of an English father and an Irish mother. After a childhood in India and a troubled return to England, he was working as a telephone engineer in Turkey when the war began; interned by the Ottoman authorities, he was repatriated as unfit for service. He recovered, joined the Royal Engineers, then the Royal Flying Corps, and arrived at the front in 1917 with No. 40 Squadron. His first victory came on 7 May 1917. By February 1918 he had sixteen victories and was appointed a flight commander in No. 74 Squadron. Between 12 April and 17 June 1918 he scored thirty-six more, often downing multiple Germans in a single patrol. On 21 May he destroyed four enemies, including three Pfalz D.IIIs, within five minutes. Promoted to command No. 85 Squadron in July 1918, he added nine more victories that month. Mannock was relentless, methodical, and fiercely protective of his men. On 26 July 1918, three days after warning George McElroy about ground fire, he was killed while dogfighting too close to the treetops near Calonne-sur-la-Lys. His body was never recovered. Posthumously, after intensive lobbying by his comrades, he was awarded the Victoria Cross. He is officially credited with sixty-one victories, a DSO and Two Bars, an MC and Bar, and the eternal respect of the pilots he taught to hunt.