5 June, 1918

[Craig]

On 5 June 1918, the American David Putnam reputedly attacked ten Albatros, and shot down five of them! Since he was flying with the French, I assume that this was the actual case, since they had stricter (and therefore IMHO more accurate) standards.
Any ideas about which Jasta he hit, and the unfortunate pilots? Was he alone?

Wow!!, that takes guts, the only thing I can tell you about this guy is that he was flying a SPAD XIII, I believe I saw the plane hanging from the roof in the Smithsonian Institute about....34 years ago.

Did he survived the war??.
Eduardo

http://216.169.126.3/aces/usa/putnam...r /> <br /> He joined the USAS in June 1918. No mention is made of this feat. What is your source for the claim ?

I admire David Putnam as much as anybody; he's one of the great unsung US aces. About ten years ago I was lucky enough to interview Dallas Darling, a former mechanic in the 139th Aero Squadron who knew Putnam and remembered 'propping his plane a few times when his own mechanic wasn't out of the sheets yet'. However, , as explained in the Franks/Bailey work "Over the Front", he had many unconfirmed victories and there are difficulties compiling his actual score. On 5 June 1918, as a member of Escadrille Spa 38, he claimed five victories but received credit for only one, an Albatros D V at Fere-en-Tardenois, for his 7th officially credited victory (according to 'OtF'). I know of no source which has identified the German pilot, who may certainly have survived & returned to his unit and thus was not counted among the casualty lists. Putnam's large number of unconfirmed claims is most likely a reflection of the strict French confirmation system (hopefully Bill Bailey may chime in on this thread some time). While there are doubts as to how many aircraft Putnam "actually" shot down, there is no doubt about his magnificent courage and skill.

Just another outrageous overclaimer

[wings]

jasta has no comment on this topic.

According to Jasta War Chronology, there were 4 known losses that date: J.48 one KIA at Moyencourt; J.52 one KIA by BrisFits; J.68 one KIA at Mery; J.23 one WIA at Hayencourt. It's really hard to find many of these places on any map, and I don't know where Putnam was based.

jasta, are you just a small j jasta ?

[Ginger.]

There seems to be a lot of Jastas about this morning,Big Al get airborne to sort them out!!!

[stephen]

Putnam is indeed one of the great, underrated US aces. He submitted more claims than any other American pilot including EVR (36). Even if several of them were incorrect he still ranks among the candidates for the US ace of aces title by "actual" score... a title that, throwing out the British attached pilots and their OOC claims, seems to be a dead heat between Luke and Putnam.