Francis P. Magoun
| Francis Peabody Magoun | |
|---|---|
Francis Peabody Magoun, 1918
|
|
| Born |
January 5, 1895 New York, New York |
| Died | June 5, 1979 (aged 84) Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Allegiance |
 United States
|
| Service/branch | Royal Air Force (United Kingdom) |
| Unit |
Royal Air Force |
| Battles/wars |
 World War I
|
Royal Air Force
Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. MC (January 6, 1895 – June 5, 1979) was one of the seminal figures in the study of medieval and English literature in the 20th century, a scholar of subjects as varied as soccer and ancient Germanic naming practices, and translator of numerous important texts. Though an American, he served in the British Royal Flying Corps (later Royal Air Force) as a lieutenant during World War I.
Magoun was born to a prosperous family in New York City. His parents were Francis Peabody Magoun (1865–1928) and Jeanne C. Bartholow (1870–1957). He received his primary education at the St. Andrew's School in Concord, Massachusetts, and at the Noble and Greenough School in Boston. He took his bachelors degree at Harvard in (1916), and in February of that year signed on with the American Field Service. From 3 March – August 3 he was a volunteer ambulance driver.
After a brief return to the United States, he went to London and enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps (to become eligible for service in the RAF, he lied and said he was Canadian; he claimed that he was from a town there where all birth records and other vital statistics had been lost in a fire). On July 4, 1917, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to 1 Squadron on November 14, flying Nieuport biplanes (later replaced by SE5a biplanes) against more maneouverable Fokker triplanes. He downed his first enemy aircraft on February 28, 1918, near Gheluvelt, another on March 10 fifteen miles (24 km) east of Ypres, and a third on March 15 in the vicinity of Dadizeele. His fourth was on March 28 near Quiery. He was wounded in action while strafing enemy troops on April 10, but returned to his squadron in October and became an ace on October 28, downing a Fokker D.VII near Anor for his fifth victory.
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