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Today in History

 
Name: Oliver Colin "Boots" LeBoutillier
Oliver LeBoutillier
Country: United States
Rank: Captain
Service: Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Air Force
Units: 9N (RNAS)
209 (RAF)
Victories: 10
Born: 24 May 1894
Place of Birth: Montclair, New Jersey
Died: 12 May 1983
Place of Death: Las Vegas, Nevada
Cemetery: Bunker Brother's Memory Gardens Memorial and Cemetery, Las Vegas, Nevada
 
Having trained at the Wright School in Mineola, New York, Oliver Colin LeBoutillier, the son of an English father and Canadian mother, joined the Royal Naval Air Service on 21 August 1916. Posted to 9 Naval Squadron (later 209 Squadron), he scored 10 victories flying the Sopwith Triplane and the Sopwith Camel. On 21 April 1918 he was one of the four American airmen who participated in the dogfight that ultimately led to the death of Germany's greatest ace, Manfred von Richthofen. When the war ended, he returned to the United States where he became a skywriter and gave Amelia Earhart her first lesson on twin engined aircraft. As a Hollywood stunt pilot, LeBoutillier appeared in eighteen movies including "Hell's Angels." In all, he had 19,000 hours of flight time when his flying career finally ended.

Link Brownie Did It
Fresno Bee - Friday, July 13, 1973
Link American Pilot Recalls Day Red Baron Was Shot Down
News Journal - Sunday, October 25, 1970
 
Victories
Date Time Unit Aircraft Opponent Location
1 25 May 1917 1630 9N Sopwith Triplane (N5459) LVG C (OOC) Off Ostend
2 05 Jun 1917 1930 9N Sopwith Triplane (N5459) Albatros D.III (OOC) Off Ostend
3 17 Jul 1917 0510 9N Sopwith Triplane (N5459) Albatros D.V (OOC) 1 Nieuport
4 29 Jul 1917 0530 9N Sopwith Triplane (N5484) Albatros D.III (OOC) Leke
5 21 Apr 1918 1025 209 Sopwith Camel (D3338) Albatros C (DES) 2 Beaucourt
6 22 Apr 1918 0610 209 Sopwith Camel (D3338) DFW C (CAP) 3 Albert
7 04 May 1918 1555 209 Sopwith Camel (D3338) Pfalz D.III (OOC) E of Villers-Bretonneaux
8 09 May 1918 1145 209 Sopwith Camel (D3338) Fokker DR.I (DES) S of Bray
9 16 May 1918 0940 209 Sopwith Camel (D3338) LVG C (DES) 4 Bayonvillers
10 31 May 1918 1920 209 Sopwith Camel (D3338) Albatros D.V (OOC) Vauvillers
1 Shared with F/Lt Edmund Pierce, FSL MacDonald, FSL R B Freeland, FSL W E B Oakley
2 Shared with Lt Robert Foster, Lt Merrill Taylor
3 Shared with Lt Robert Foster, Lt M A Harker, Lt Merrill Taylor, Lt Cecil Brock
4 Shared with Capt Robert Foster
 
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)
In Clouds of Glory: American Airmen Who Flew With The British During The Great War
by James J. Hudson / Paperback / University of Arkansas Press (October 1, 1990)
 
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