100 years ago today - 3 January 1917

[Graeme]

3 JANUARY 1917

Nothing to report.

A little terse, but accurate nonetheless.

Since the beginning of the war, the British flying services had submitted claims for some 658 victories (up to 27 December 1916, there being no "decisive" claims between then and 4 January 1917). The leading living RFC/RNAS scorer was, by a wide margin, Albert Ball who had submitted claims for at least 31 enemy machines.

Over the same period, French pilots and observers had claimed some 330 victories, with Guynemer being the leading claimant with 25.

Belgian aircrews had submitted claims for 39 victories, of which a mere seven had been confirmed; their top scorer was Fernand Jacquet with 4 confirmed victories from 12 claims.

German victories over this period amounted to at least 411 and their leading living top-scorer was Manfred von Richthofen with 15 victories.

Graeme