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Name: Duerson "Dewey" Knight
Duerson Knight
Country: United States
Rank: Lieutenant
Service: United States Air Service
Unit: 1 (RAF)
Victories: 10
Born: 21 January 1893
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois
Died: 23 April 1983
Place of Death: Walnut Creek, California
 
The son of Thomas Duerson Knight, an attorney, and Helen Whitaker (Fowle) Knight, daughter of Governor Fowle of North Carolina, Duerson Knight was a track star at University High School and the University of Chicago (class of 1916). He joined the United States Air Service in 1917. He was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant on 22 March 1918. To gain combat experience, he was temporarily assigned to the Royal Air Force. Flying the S.E.5a with 1 Squadron, he scored his first victory on 27 May 1918 and became an ace in less than a week. By August 1918, he achieved ten confirmed victories before being reassigned to a squadron in the United States Air Service in September 1918. Knight returned to the University of Chicago in 1919.
 
Victories
Date Time Unit Aircraft Opponent Location
1 27 May 1918 1425 1 S.E.5a (C6479) C (DES) 1 S of Bailleul
2 27 May 1918 1450 1 S.E.5a (C6479) C (DES) 1 Kemmel
3 28 May 1918 0635 1 S.E.5a (C6479) C (OOC) 2 Meteren-Bailleul
4 28 May 1918 0700 1 S.E.5a (C6479) DFW C (DES) 2 Meteren-Vieux Berquin
5 01 Jun 1918 1940 1 S.E.5a (C1106) Pfalz D.III (OOC) 3 Armentières
6 09 Jun 1918 0630 1 S.E.5a (C1106) Fokker DR.I (CAP) 4 Dickebusch
7 09 Jun 1918 0720 1 S.E.5a (C1106) Pfalz D.III (OOC) Estaires
8 23 Jun 1918 0600 1 S.E.5a (C1894) C (DES) 5 NW of Lestrem
9 27 Jun 1918 0427 1 S.E.5a (C1894) LVG C (DES) 6 E of Meteren
10 22 Aug 1918 0720 1 S.E.5a (C1812) Fokker D.VII (CAP) Achiet le Grand
1 Shared with Capt Percy Clayson, Lt Harold Kullberg, Lt Basil Moody, Lt Ernest Kelly
2 Shared with Lt EM Forsyth, Lt Basil Moody, Lt Ernest Owen, Lt AK Scroggs, Lt HB Bradley, Lt Ernest Kelly, Lt Harold Kullberg, Lt Kenneth Laing, Capt Percy Clayson, Capt KS Henderson
3 Shared with Capt Charles Lavers, Capt Percy Clayson, Lt Wallace Smart, Lt LW Mawbey, Lt EM Newman, Lt Harold Kullberg, Lt CB Henderson, Lt HS Hennessy, Lt Ernest Kelly
4 Shared with Lt HB Bradley, Lt HP Parkinson, Lt Ernest Owen, Lt Harold Kullberg, Lt Kenneth Laing, Lt ES Crossley, Lt John Bateman, Lt CB Henderson, Capt Percy Clayson
5 Shared with Capt Percy Clayson, Lt Harold Kullberg, Lt John Bateman, Lt CB Henderson
6 Shared with Capt Percy Clayson, Lt Harold Kullberg
 
Books
Norman Franks. SE 5/5a Aces of World War I. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2007
Franks, Norman. American Aces of World War 1. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2001
Franks, Norman and Frank Bailey. Over the Front: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914-1918. London: Grub Street, 1992
 
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