Flight Commander Frederick Carr Armstrong DSC

Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Service Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers, and other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and British Merchant Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.The DSC, which may be awarded posthumously, is...

 (13 June 1896 –25 March 1918) was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 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...

, officially credited with 13 victories.

Aerial service

After joining the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915, Armstrong was posted to 3 Wing RNAS. He then transferred to 3 Naval Squadron at Dunkirk in February 1917, flying the Sopwith Pup

Sopwith Pup

The Sopwith Pup was a British single seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good maneuverability, the aircraft proved very...

. He scored his first victory on 6 April 1917, using Sopwith Pup serial no. N6178. Using this same plane, on 12 April, he shared his second victory with fellow ace Edmund Pierce. His third win was shared with Pierce and Arthur Whealy

Arthur Whealy

Arthur Treloar Whealy DSC & Bar DFC was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 27 victories.-Background:Whealy was a medical student at the University of Toronto before World War I...

 on 2 May, when they set an Albatros

Albatros Flugzeugwerke

Albatros-Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer best known for supplying the German airforces during World War I.The company was based in Johannisthal, Berlin, where it was founded by Walter Huth and Otto Wiener on December 20, 1909. It produced some of the most capable fighter aircraft...

 reconnaissance plane ablaze. A fourth victory, four days later, an Albatros D.III

Albatros D.III

The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service and the Austro-Hungarian Air Service during World War I. The D.III was flown by many top German aces, including Manfred von Richthofen, Ernst Udet, Erich Löwenhardt, Kurt Wolff, and Karl Emil Schäfer...

 sent down out of control over Bourlon Wood

Bourlon Wood Memorial

The Bourlon Wood Memorial is a Canadian war memorial that commemorates the actions of the Canadian Corps during the final months of the First World War; a period also known as Canada's Hundred Days, part of the Hundred Days Offensive...

, was shared with Kerby. On 7 July, a splashed German seaplane six miles north of Ostend

Ostend

Ostend  is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....

was worth a win apiece for Armstrong, Joseph Stewart Temple Fall

Joseph Stewart Temple Fall

Joseph Stewart Temple Fall DSC & Two Bars, AFC was a Canadian World War I flying ace with 36 credited victories.-Early life:...

, James Alpheus Glen

James Alpheus Glen

James Alpheus Glen DSC was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 15 victories.-Distinguished Service Cross:"Flt. Lieut. James Alpheus Glen, R N.A.S....

, and Leonard Henry Rochford

Leonard Henry Rochford

Leonard Henry Rochford DSC & Bar, DFC was a British World War I Flying Ace with twenty-nine credited victories.-Involvement in World War I:...

, and Armstrong was an ace.

He later switched to the 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...

. Thus mounted, he scored two single-handed wins on 16 September 1917. His scoring then lapsed for the Winter.

He resumed his victories on 24 January 1918. He went on to score five times in March 1918; the last win, on 24 March, seems to have been a squadron affair, with Armstrong, Pierce, Whealy, Edwin Hayne

Edwin Hayne

Captain Edwin Tufnell Hayne was a World War I flying ace credited with 15 aerial victories.-Early life:Edwin Tufnell Hayne was the son of Emily and Tufnell Hayne. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa...

, Frederick Britnell

Frederick Britnell

Captain Frederick John Shaw Britnell was a flying ace in the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force during World War I. He was credited with nine aerial victories...

, and three other pilots all being credited with a victory for driving an 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....

down out of control.

Death in action

Armstrong was shot down in flames south of Ervillers on 25 March 1918 while he was on Special Patrol.

Text of citations

Act. Flt. Cdr. Fred Carr Armstrong, R.N.A.S.
In recognition of his services with a Wing of the R.N.A.S. at Dunkirk between February and September, 1917. He has destroyed several hostile machines, and has led his flight with very great skill and gallantry.

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