Canadian Aces of 1916

My research on Harry Wood (previous message) led me to digging into the first few Canadian aces.From a quick study of ATT, it appears that the following Canadians became aces during 1916:
R.H.Mulock (5th victory 21 May 1916),lst Canadian and 1st RNAS ace;H.C.Evans (fifth victory 9 Aug 1916);A.G.Knight (fifth victory 15 Sept 1916);A.D.Bell-Irving (fifth victory 30 Sept 1916); H.A.Wood (fifth victory 16 Nov 1916); and C.S.Duffus (fifth victory 11 Dec 1916). There may be others I have missed.
Note that Evans and Knight are both listed with the English aces on this website,but both were Canadians, albiet English-born. Evans came to Canada as a youngster, ranched in the west, served in the Canadian Artillery in the Boer War, and the Canadian army in WW1 before joining the RFC. He was a senior citizen of 37 when he became an ace.
Knight came to Canada as a child, was educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto and was one of a batch of 20 young Canadians, all graduates of McGill or Toronto, and from upper class backgrounds who enrolled in the RFC in Toronto. I think ATT states that Knight returned to England to join the RFC, which is not correct.He learned to fly before he went overseas, and was certainly considered to be Canadian. He didn't even have an English accent, and Hawker thought of him as a "colonial", just like McKay,Wood, and the other Canucks in the unit.! By the way, much of my info came from Stewart Taylor.

[Barrett]

Terry: Thanks for the thread; I missed Wood on my list of early RFC/RNAS aces. Interesting to note that of the 33 by the end of 1916, 6 (almost 20%) were Canadian, which must be disproportionate among the total number of Canadian airmen at the time. I also note one Australian, SJ Goble of the RNAS.
At year end the top scorers were:

Albert Ball 31
Pat Langen-Byrne 10
Alan Wilkinson 10
George Reid 9
Lionel Rees 8
Stanley Goble 8
Eustace Grenfell 8
Arthur Knight 8

Ball's destroyed/captured score was 16.5 while five others were in the 5-6 range.

Thanks for info, Barrett. I left out another Canadian - D.M.B.Galbraith (fifth victory 16 Nov 1916). Also, didn't the Aussie R.Dallas have at least five victories in 1916?

Further to previous message, L.L.Richardson, another Australian was also a 1916 ace, I think. Would you also list the American Libby and his ten victories as an observer?

Pardon a quibble - you may wish to consult http://www.airforce.ca/citations/wwi/index.htm for citations to awards to the Canadians listed. Although the data base found there needs some up-dating, I would hesitate to say that A.G. Knight "trained in Canada" before going overseas. He appears to have been among a number of people who applied to the Curtiss School (then operating at Toronto) and may have received some instruction, but did not graduate (certainly had no ACA Certificate) as the school had a habit of closing for the winter months - the managers wanted to move it to Bermuda if somebody else would pay for the move. George Fuller wrote a long article about the school (and unhappily, I cannot lay hands on it right now) which appeared (I think) in the Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society (or was it the AAHS Journal - memory is the second thing to go when you get old). I hope you are in possession of Elizabeth O'Kiely's GENTLEMAN AIR ACE: THE DUNCAN BELL-IRVING STORY (published 1992 by Harbour Publications, Madeira Park, British Columbia - if the company is out of business, try Canav Books, 51 Balsam Avenue, Toronto, M4E 3B6).

[Barrett]

Right you are: Dallas had 6 victories in 1916: 5 OOCs and one destroyed. He flew Nieuports and the prototype Sop Tripe (N500) alternately.
Libby had 10 victories as an FE-2 gunner between July and October (9 OOC, 1 dest) but I confess my pilot bias in that when I think "ace" I instinctively think FIGHTER ace. Gunner/observer aces are, to coin a phrase, "separate but equal!"

Hugh, thanks for info... I want to check Stew's long article on 22 Sqn. which appeared in the journal of the League of WW1 Aviation Historians.Also, I do have the Bell-Irving book. What a spectacular family history in WW1 - decorations galore! Hugh, have you turned up anything yet on Camille Lagesse and any Canadian connection? I confess I don't have any idea why he is on the Canadian list, other than a French name.

More on A.G.Knight...Stew Taylor's article said that Knight attended the Curtiss School at Long Branch and graduated with RACe Certificate No.2063 on 11 Nov 1915. The article also stated that Knight was one of only 3 of the 20 Canadians I mentioned earlier who had received their RACe certificates before going overseas.
Fuller's article in the CAHS journal in 1995 lists Knight in their chart of aerial victories for former Curtiss School students and indicates that he indeed was a graduate.graduates