Lieutenant Kenneth Bowman Watson was a Canadian World War I flying ace

Flying ace

A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...

. He was credited with nine aerial victories. On 9 October 1918, he achieved the extraordinary feat of capturing two enemy airplanes during a dogfight

Dogfight

A dogfight, or dog fight, is a form of aerial combat between fighter aircraft; in particular, combat of maneuver at short range, where each side is aware of the other's presence. Dogfighting first appeared during World War I, shortly after the invention of the airplane...

.

Personal life

Kenneth Bowman Watson was born in Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

, Canada on 5 June 1897. He died on 5 March 1960.
Watson is buried in Bethesda Lutheran Cemetery, Markham, Ontario

Markham, Ontario

Markham is a town in the Regional Municipality of York, located within the Greater Toronto Area of Southern Ontario, Canada. The population was 261,573 at the 2006 Canadian census...

, Canada. His wife, Hilda V. Darby Watson, is buried there with him.

World War I

Watson underwent his aviation training while still in Canada. He was posted overseas to France in 1917. On 13 August 1917, Watson was commissioned as a second lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 in the Royal Flying Corps

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

. He trained as a fighter pilot and was initially assigned to 28 Squadron in Italy. However, Watson would not achieve his first aerial success until after his transfer to 70 Squadron in France. After becoming an ace on 8 October, he scored two victories the following day. In an extraordinary feat, he singlehandedly drove down a Fokker D.VII

Fokker D.VII

The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service, the D.VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft...

 and its German pilot into captivity and simultaneously cooperated with four other British pilots in a second capture of a D.VII and pilot. Watson earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor, though not for the twin captivities. The DFC would not be promulgated until after war's end.

List of aerial victories

See also Aerial victory standards of World War I

Aerial victory standards of World War I

During World War I, the national air services involved developed their own methods of assessing and assigning credit for aerial victories.The victory scores of the pilots represented at List of World War I flying aces often cannot be definitive, but are based on itemized lists that are the best...

No.	Date/time	Aircraft	Foe	Result	Location	Notes
1	31 May 1918 @ 1750 hours	Sopwith Camel Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...  serial number C8218	Albatros D.V Albatros D.V |-See also:-Bibliography:*Bennett, Leon. Gunning for the Red Baron. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2006. ISBN 1-58544-507-X....	Destroyed	Southeast of Bapaume Bapaume Bapaume is a commune and the seat of a canton in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming and light industrial town located 10 miles south of Arras at the junction of the A1 autoroute and the N17 and N30 national roads its location is...
2	29 June 1918 @ 0920 hours	Sopwith Camel s/n C8218	Albatros D.V	Driven down out of control	Iries
3	4 September 1918 @ 1815 hours	Sopwith Camel s/n E7173	Fokker D.VII Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service, the D.VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft...	Set afire; destroyed	Escaillon
4	29 September 1918 @ 1140 hours	Sopwith Camel s/n E7173	Fokker D.VII	Destroyed	Oostnieuwkerke Oostnieuwkerke Oostnieuwkerke is a Belgian village in the province of West-Flanders. It is part of the municipality of Staden. There are more than 3400 inhabitants and Oostnieuwkerke lies closer to the town Roeselare then it is to the main village Staden...
5	8 October 1918 @ 1750 hours	Sopwith Camel s/n E7173	German reconnaissance plane	Destroyed	East of Menen Menen Menen is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Menen proper and the towns of Lauwe and Rekkem. The city is situated on the French/Belgian border. On January 1, 2006, Menen had a total population of 32,413...
6	9 October 1918 @ 0945 hours	Sopwith Camel s/n E7173	Fokker D.VII	Captured	South of Roulers
7	9 October 1918 @ 0945 hours	Sopwith Camel s/n E7173	Fokker D.VII	Captured	West of Mayerneine	Victory shared with Oscar Heron Oscar Heron Captain Oscar Aloysius Patrick Heron was an Irish World War I flying ace credited with thirteen confirmed aerial victories.-World War I:Heron was assigned to 70 Squadron as a Sopwith Camel pilot in May 1918. On 30 June, he scored his first victories, driving down one Albatros D.V and setting... , three other pilots
8	28 October 1918 @ 1145 hours	Sopwith Camel s/n E7173	Fokker D.VII	Destroyed	Bois du Biez
9	4 November 1918 @ 1145 hours	Sopwith Camel s/n E7173	Fokker D.VII	Destroyed	Southwest of Renaix	No. 70 Squadron's final victory for the war

Post World War I

Watson's Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted on 8 February 1919:
On 12 July 1919 Kenneth Bowman Watson transferred to the unemployed list of the Royal Air Force and vanished into obscurity for the remainder of his life.