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Irish41: Do you know if the family was encouraged to provide the letters to the press? Were they passed through a censor? This is all very interesting given that British pilots weren't generally lionized. I realize that Ball was in some way an oddity in that the French press was reporting on him and, by doing so, was creating an interest not generally found in the exploits of British pilots. I also just read that, on August 30, 1916, he wrote to his sister and told her he had been asked to list the actions he had been in. Do you know who asked him to do that and to what end? This is all very interesting when you consider the small amount of propaganda value that we are led to believe was affixed to British pilots. I know the French and Germans used it to maximum effectiveness to bolster the fighting man and the general public. Perhaps the Brits used it more than we are led to believe, and to bolster movers and shakers more than the public, hence the reference to the prime minister.
DD
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