Lansing Colton Holden - The Aerodrome - Aces and Aircraft of World War I

Over the Front—The League of WWI Aviation Historians

Name:

Lansing Colton "Denny" Holden, Jr.

Country:

United States

Rank:

Lieutenant

Service:

United States Air Service

Units:

N461 (FAS)
95^th Aero (USAS)

Victories:

Born:

08 October 1896

Place of Birth:

Brooklyn, New York

Died:

13 November 1938

Place of Death:

Near Sparta, Tennessee

A graduate of Princeton University and the son of L. C. Holden of New York City, Lansing Colton Holden, Jr. joined the French Air Service in 1917. After flight training he was posted to N461, one of three Escadrilles assigned to defend Paris. In early 1918, Holden accepted a commission in the United States Air Service and joined the 95^th Aero Squadron on 20 July 1918. Soon after, on 10 August, he was shot down over French territory but survived. Flying a SPAD XIII, he downed two German aircraft and five kite balloons. In 1924, Holden flew for the French in the Moroccan uprising and in 1933, he illustrated Harold Buckley's book, "Squadron 95."

"I like my SPAD type XIII — 230 hp and two Vickers guns — immensely. She is marked like this. The numbers are white, red bordered, also the bands — three bands for the third flight — also a white nose. The mule is our squadron insignia. We have a cunning little jack for a mascot. The palen is camouflaged brown, green and black."

Lansing Holden, 27 July 1918

Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)

"The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Lansing Colton Holden, Jr., First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Montigny, France, October 23, 1918. Lieutenant Holden was ordered to attack several German balloons, reported to be regulating effective artillery fire on our troops. After driving off an enemy plane, encountered before reaching the balloons, he soon came upon five balloons in ascension one kilometer apart. In attacking the first, which proved to be a decoy with a basket, his guns jammed; after clearing them he attacked the second balloon, forcing the observer to jump. His guns again jammed before he could set fire to this balloon. Moving on the third balloon at a height of only 50 meters, he set fire to it and compelled the observer to jump. He was prevented from attacking the two remaining balloons by the further jamming of his machine gun."

General Orders No. 46, W.D., 1919

Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) Oak Leaf Cluster

"The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Lansing Colton Holden, Jr., First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near St. Jean de Buzy, France, November 4, 1918. Flying at a low altitude to evade hostile pursuit patrols, Lieutenant Holden attacked a German observation balloon in the face of antiaircraft and machine-gun fire. Although the balloon was being rapidly pulled own, he set fire to it in its nest and also caused much damage to adjacent buildings."

General Orders No. 46, W.D., 1919

Victories

	Date	Time	Unit	Aircraft	Opponent	Location
1	29 Sep 1918	1850	95^th	SPAD XIII	Balloon	Dun-sur-Meuse
2	23 Oct 1918	1630	95^th	SPAD XIII	Fokker D.VII ¹	St. Juvin
3	23 Oct 1918	1705	95^th	SPAD XIII	Balloon	Montigny
4	27 Oct 1918	0640	95^th	SPAD XIII	Hannover CL	Fontaine
5	30 Oct 1918	1305	95^th	SPAD XIII	Balloon	Germont
6	03 Nov 1918	1615	95^th	SPAD XIII	Balloon	Allemont
7	04 Nov 1918	1612	95^th	SPAD XIII	Balloon	St. Jean de Buzy

1	Shared with Lt Edward Curtis

Books

American Aces of World War 1: by Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey (Illustrator) / Paperback / Osprey Publishing (September 25, 2001)
Over the Front: by Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey / Hardcover / Grub Street the Basement (May 1992)

Aces · Aircraft · Books · Forum · Guests · Help · Links · Medals · News · Search · Today