He demonstrated his determination by volunteering for secret missions: flying spies beyond the German lines and dropping them there. On one occasion, he took a "M. Victor" over the lines and headed for the drop point. En route three Fokkers jumped Ball's two-seater, laden down with the spy and his luggage. Anti-aircraft joined in. Ball dodged it all and darkness fell, protecting them. But the whole business had unnerved "M. Victor," who refused to get out! He also did artillery spotting and photo missions. He worked his way to piloting the Bristol Scouts (single seat fighters) attached to Number 13 Squadron.
In May he switched to fighters, claiming his first kill while flying a Nieuport Scout. In the spring of 1916, the Nieuport was one of the best fighters in the world: fast, graceful, easily controlled; it could climb to 10,000 feet in ten minutes.
Ball was a loner on the ground as well. Evenings he would play his violin, Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and other pieces, by the red light of a flare. He was humorless and pious, convinced that killing Huns was God's will. He tended his private vegetable garden and took target practice with a Lewis gun.
By August, he was a flight commander. Late one day he went up on bomber escort, spotting seven German Rolands, unaware of his presence. He moved in, below and behind, and poured a deadly burst into the tail-end Charlie. As the Germans scattered, Ball changed the overhead Lewis' ammo drum while holding the stick steady between his knees, a tricky feat he had recently mastered. Firing again, he destroyed a second Roland. In the gathering dusk, he evaded the remaining five planes of this flight and found new prey just south of Vaux. He repeated his tactics: a quick burst to knock down the rear machine, a brief dogfight to score a second, and then a run for home. He landed with four planes to his score, but was anxious for more. At 8:00 PM on that late summer evening, he re-loaded his guns and took off again. He spotted the bombers he had originally been assigned to protect, with more Rolands pursuing them. Ball tore into the fray, diving and firing. But they were too many; he finally called it quits with eleven bullet holes in his overheated aircraft.
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 Albert Ball - from 1935 Hall of Fame of the Air, click for large view |
His reputation grew. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) in September. By this time he had accumulated 31 victories. In October, he went on home leave. King George V himself pinned the D.S.O. on the nineteen year old flier. Anxious to protect the popular young hero, the brass assigned him to training duty. He objected bitterly; he wanted to get back to the front.
By early May, he had added eleven more victims, raising his score to forty-two, then the top Allied ace. He reluctantly recognized that the new SE-5a was superior to the Nieuport and he made the transition.
Civilians and other military observers saw the rest, as Ball finished off the Albatros, his 44th victory. Ball emerged over the village of Annoeulin, where he had gotten into the habit of checking the time on a church tower clock. This evening he flew by and German gunners, hidden in the tower, brought him down. German propagandists tried to credit Ball's destruction to Lothar von Richthofen, but since the Red Baron's younger brother was on sick leave at the time, many have challenged that claim. (There are other versions of Ball's death, but the machine gunner in the clock tower is widely accepted.)
A month later, Captain Albert Ball was awarded the Victoria Cross (V.C.).
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