{"id":297,"date":"2017-04-20T19:48:48","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T01:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/?page_id=297"},"modified":"2023-08-30T11:10:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T17:10:58","slug":"leslie-alfred-amzia-benson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/the-biographies\/leslie-alfred-amzia-benson\/","title":{"rendered":"Leslie Alfred Amzia Benson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u00a0(Elizabeth, New Jersey, October 16, 1897 [?] \u2013 Eggertsville, New York, May 19, 1964).1<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>No. 112 Squadron, 5 T.D.S. Stamford<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u272f\u00a0 9 T.S. Sedgeford<\/a> \u00a0\u272f\u00a0 France\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Benson\u2019s mother, Louisa Elizabeth Hawkins, emigrated with her family from Staffordshire, England, to New Jersey around 1882.2<\/a> There she met and married Ernest Herman Benson, who was working in Elizabeth as an erecting engineer.3<\/a> They had two children, both boys; Leslie A.A. Benson was the younger. By 1910, the family had moved to Elmira, New York, where Ernest Herman Benson was employed by the American Bridge Company.4<\/a> Leslie A. A. Benson attended the Elmira Free Academy, where he excelled in football and drama and became known as a fine bass-baritone.5<\/a> After graduating in 1916, he entered Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, with the class of 1920.6<\/a> In the spring of 1917, he was accepted as a candidate for R.O.T.C. at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana. Benson evidently applied to and was accepted by the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, because in the summer of 1917 he entered ground school<\/a> at the School of Military Aeronautics at Ohio State University, graduating on September 1, 1917.7<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Newspaper
Story that appeared in the Elmira Star Gazette the day the 2nd Oxford detachment departed New York on the Carmania.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Along with most of his O.S.U. classmates, Benson\u00a0chose or was chosen to train in Italy, and he joined the 150 men of the \u201cItalian\u201d or \u201csecond Oxford detachment\u201d who sailed to England on the\u00a0Carmania<\/i>.8<\/a>\u00a0They departed New York for Halifax on September 18, 1917, and departed Halifax as part of a convoy for the Atlantic crossing on September 21, 1917. The men of the detachment, travelling first class, had plenty of leisure, apart from submarine duty towards the end of the voyage and daily Italian lessons conducted by Fiorello La Guardia, who was travelling with them. It was thus a surprise when, on docking at Liverpool on October 2, 1917, the members of the \u201cItalian detachment\u201d learned that they would not continue to Italy, but would remain in England and attend ground school (again) at the Royal Flying Corps\u2019s No. 2 School of Military Aeronautics at Oxford. There was some grumbling, but the men fairly quickly settled in to life at Oxford. Since their work at Oxford was in part a repetition of what they had already learned in the U.S., the cadets did not need to work as hard as they might have, and they had considerable leisure for exploring the town and the surrounding countryside and engaging in various athletic and social activities.<\/p>\n

On November 3, 1917, twenty men were able to go to Stamford to begin flight training, but nearly all the others, including Benson, departed that day for Grantham in Lincolnshire to attend gunnery school at Harrowby Camp. As Parr Hooper, also ordered to Grantham, remarked, \u201cIt looks like we got sent here because there was no other place to send us to\u2014playing for time.\u201d9<\/a> John McGavock Grider, who roomed with Benson, described their status at Grantham: \u201cWe rank as officers and don\u2019t have to salute any thing under Majors and on the other hand we are not officers and are not saluted by privates.\u201d10<\/a> Eight men were assigned to a hut, and, initially, in addition to Grider, Benson shared with Thomas John Herbert and Clarence Horn Fry, who had been at O.S.U., as well as Laurence Kingsley Callahan, Finley Austin Morrison, Joseph Raymond Payden, and John Howard Raftery.11<\/a>\u00a0In mid-November, after places opened up for fifty men at training squadrons, five of these men left to begin flight training; Benson, Payden, and Raftery were among those who remained at Grantham to complete a second machine gun course\u2014the first had been on the Vickers gun; the cadets now learned about and practiced with the Lewis.<\/p>\n

<\/a>No. 112 Squadron, 5 T.D.S. Stamford<\/a><\/h6>\n
\"Portion
Men bound for Throwley, a portion of the list of men posted December 3, 1917, drawn up by Foss.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On December 3, 1917, the remaining men at Grantham were finally posted to squadrons. According to a list drawn up by Fremont Cutler Foss, Benson was assigned to No. 112 Squadron, a home defense squadron at Throwley in Kent, along with Charles Carvel Fleet, Francis Joseph Hagan, Clarence Bernard Maloney, William Henley Mooney, and Guy Samuel King Wheeler.12<\/a>\u00a0All of these men had, as it happens, been at ground school at O.S.U., although Fleet, Maloney, and Wheeler had been one class ahead of the others.<\/p>\n

No. 112 flew Camels, which, of course, could not be used for primary instruction. There must also, however, have been some two seaters; Fleet wrote to Parr Hooper from Throwley that he and the other cadets were \u201cbilleted in nice homes and do not do anything except occasional flying when the pilots feel like taking them up.\u201d13<\/a><\/p>\n

Indirect evidence indicates that Benson, along with the other five American cadets at No. 112, was reposted on January 26, 1918, and that he, Fleet, Maloney, and Mooney were assigned that day to No. 5 Training Depot Squadron at Easton on the Hill, a couple of miles southwest of Stamford (the second Oxford detachment members sent to Stamford in early November had been assigned to No. 1 T.D.S. about three miles to the east, near Wittering).14<\/a>\u00a0Around the middle of February 1918, Hagan, who had been posted to Boscombe Down near Amesbury in Wiltshire, wrote to Benson<\/a> at 5 T.D.S., opining enviously that \u201cYou should by this time have completed your 20 hours solo and have your wings up.\u201d15<\/a> In fact, it appears that Benson was even more frustrated than Hagan, as the first flight recorded in his log book did not take place until March 4, 1918.16<\/a><\/p>\n

Bad weather cannot account for Benson\u2019s not flying during February, as the log books of second Oxford detachment members Pryor Richardson Perkins and John Warren Leach, also at No. 5 T.D.S. at this time, show them flying during this period. However, Perkins and Leach had been assigned to 2 flight, while Benson was in 4 flight. Robert Thomas Palmer was also in 4 flight at 5 T.D.S. during this period, and his log book is similarly blank in February 1918; it seems likely that 4 flight, in contrast to 2, had insufficient planes and\/or instructors.<\/p>\n

Finally, on March 4, 1918, Benson began his training. Instructor Harry Kent Capper took him up as a passenger for ten minutes in a B.E.2e ([B?]9993), an operational aircraft by now obsolete and mainly used for training.17<\/a> The same day, Roger Bark Corfield, 4 flight\u2019s O.C., took him up twice more in the same plane and then once in a DH.6 ([C]2028), a plane designed for training, apparently to demonstrate landings.18<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
From Benson’s pilot’s flying log book, currently the possession of Mike Benson—to whom my thanks for access and permission to reproduce here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the next week and a half, Benson was able to fly most days. On March 22, 1918, after instructor Alan Carnegy Horsbrugh had tested him \u201cfor solo,\u201d Benson flew B.E.2e 9993 solo for fifty minutes. Just two days later he flew the same plane for over an hour, some of the time at 8,000 feet, thus completing his altitude test, one of the prerequisites for graduation from this stage of R.F.C. training. On March 26, 1918, still in 9993, he flew for three hours; in his log book he wrote \u201cLost over Wisbech & the Wash. Landed at Coldham.\u201d A few days later, he tried to complete another graduation prerequisite, a cross-country flight. He flew to Wyton about twenty-five miles to the southeast of Easton on the Hill and Stamford, but crashed \u201con aerodrome\u201d\u2014presumably at Easton on his return. Plane 9993 was a \u201cwrite-off,\u201d but Benson himself evidently escaped injury from this, his only recorded crash.<\/p>\n

\"\"
From Benson’s pilot’s flying log book.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nothing daunted, Benson went up solo again in another B.E.2e on April 2, 1918\u2014the day after the R.F.C. became the R.A.F.\u2014and soon made two more cross-country flights, the first on April 4, 1918, when he flew up to Grantham and back, taking photos, and then on April 8, 1918, with a Lt. Hall as his passenger, when he flew to Narborough and back to Easton. He now had flown over seven hours dual and over twenty-one hours solo and had thus fulfilled yet another graduation requirement (originally \u201c20 hours solo in the air,\u201d changed at some point to \u201c25 hours in the air solo and dual combined\u201d19<\/a>).<\/p>\n

On this same day, April 8, 1918, Pershing cabled the War Department, recommending that Benson, along with many others, be commissioned a first lieutenant.20<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0It had been brought to Pershing\u2019s attention that many aviation cadets had come to Europe expecting to begin flight training immediately but had instead kicked up their heels for months. As Pershing wrote in a cablegram dated March 13, 1918, \u201cAll of those cadets would have been commissioned prior to this date if training facilities could have been provided. These conditions have produced profound discouragement among cadets.\u201d21<\/a> To remedy this injustice, and to put the European cadets on an equal footing with their counterparts in the U.S., Pershing asked permission \u201cto immediately issue to all cadets now in Europe temporary or Reserve commissions in Aviation Section Signal Corps. . . .\u201d22<\/a> Washington approved the plan in a cablegram dated March 21, 1918, but stipulated that the commissioned men be \u201cput on non-flying status. Upon satisfactory completion of flying training they can be transferred as flying officers.\u201d23<\/a>\u00a0And, indeed, Pershing\u2019s April 8, 1918, cablegram recommended that Benson and a number of others be commissioned as \u201cFirst Lieutenants Aviation Reserve non-flying.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 20, 1918, Benson was finally able to go up in a service plane, an R.E.8, but only as Corfield\u2019s passenger. Four days later, however, after having been tested for solo flying in an R.E.8, he went up in the same plane as a pilot, thus fulfilling the last R.F.C. \/ R.A.F. graduation requirement. It was perhaps in part to celebrate this accomplishment that over the next day or so he took Fleet and Maloney, and perhaps also Mooney and Hagan (if I read the name correctly; Hagan must have been visiting) up as passengers with him in a B.E.2d.24<\/a>\u00a0By the time Benson finished at 5 T.D.S. on May 9, 1918, he had nearly fifty-six hours of flying time under his belt, most of it solo.<\/p>\n

<\/a>9 T.S. Sedgeford<\/a><\/h6>\n

May 10, 1918, finds Benson reporting to B flight of No. 9 Training Squadron at Sedgeford in Norfolk.25<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
This form registering Benson’s arrival at No. 9 T.S. is one of many documents in Benson, Leslie A. A. Benson Collection, 1917-1919, that were donated to the Smithsonian by his family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Harold Ernest Goettler, also at Sedgeford, noted in his diary that day that \u201c[I] met an American tonight at supper by the name of Benson\u2014he is a Beta [fraternity member] and was just posted to our Squadron.\u201d Benson\u2019s commission was (finally) confirmed in a cable dated May 13, 1918; news of the consequent celebration spread, and Fleet, just departing for Wyton, commented on it.26<\/a><\/p>\n

Benson trained at Sedgeford from May 10, 1918, through mid-July 1918. He initially put in a great deal of time flying R.E.8s, although he was taken up briefly as a passenger during his first week in an DH.4 and in an \u201cAW\u201d (presumably an Armstrong Whitworth FK.3). At the end of the month he again made flights as a passenger in a DH.4; it may well be that a couple of times his pilot (\u201cBird\u201d) was second Oxford detachment member Allen Tracy Bird, who had been at No. 9 T.S. since April 1918. Finally, on June 11, 1918, Benson was able to take a DH.4 up solo and over the next few days got in several hours as a pilot on this plane.<\/p>\n

On June 19, 1918, Benson was back flying an R.E.8. On this day he and passenger Suiter (probably Wilber Carleton Suiter of the second Oxford detachment) made a tour lasting over four hours\u2014close to the limit of the R.E.8\u2019s endurance if they did not refuel\u2014taking in Cambridge, over fifty miles to the southwest of Sedgeford, and Narborough, over seventy-five miles to the west of Sedgeford; it is unclear from the log book entry what their precise flight path was.<\/p>\n

\"\"
From Benson’s pilot’s flying log book.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Benson practiced aerial fighting in an A.W. on June 21, 1918, and then on June 23, 1918, flew to \u201cHolcomb Hall,\u201d i.e. to Holkham Hall, the grand country house of the Earl of Leicester just east of Sedgeford, returning later the same day. Benson\u2019s passenger, \u201cLt. Kraut\u201d (probably Ray Worrall Krout), had apparently visited Holkham Hall a few days previously as one of a party of Americans at Sedgeford who had been invited to tea by Lord Leicester.27<\/a>\u00a0Perhaps Benson\u2019s passenger had been able to acquire another invitation, this time for himself and Benson.<\/p>\n

Benson continued to pile on the hours flying solo; by the end of June 1918 he calculated that he had over 120 hours of flying time, 106 of which were solo, mainly on R.E.8s and A.W.s, but including nearly eleven hours solo on DH.4s. On July 1, 1918, he flew as a passenger for the first time in a DH.9 ([D]5601), and three days later flew a DH.9 solo. During the first week of July 1918 he also took up as passengers in an A.W. Herbert Bryce-Smith\u2014the officer who signed off on his log book at 9 T.S.\u2014and Ralf Crookston, another second Oxford detachment member.<\/p>\n

\"\"
This note from Fleet to Benson is among Benson’s miscellaneous papers and photos, currently the possession of Mike Benson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Benson records no flying from July 6 through July 12, 1918, and other documents, including a ration card, indicate he travelled to London and back during this period. His friend Fleet, on his way to a school of aerial fighting at Marske-by-the-Sea, left Benson a note dated July 9 [?], 1918: \u201cheard you were staying here. Saw Milnor this morning & he said you had put in for France\u201d\u2014Joseph Kirkbride Milnor was working at American Aviation H.Q. in London. A receipt dated July 8, 1918, indicates that Benson had that day been issued flying clothes from stores of the (American) quartermaster in London.28<\/a><\/p>\n

Benson was once again flying at Sedgeford on July 13 and 14, 1918. He closed out his training at there on July 14, 1918, when he flew an R.E.8 with passenger (Roy Underhill?) Dabbs; he had logged a total flying time of just over 146 hours, with just over 122 hours solo.<\/p>\n

<\/a>France<\/a><\/h6>\n

Like Fleet, most second Oxford detachment pilots at this point in their training spent at least a brief period at one of the schools of aerial fighting, at Marske or at Ayr and Turnberry, but Benson\u2019s log book does not record any flying at these schools.\u00a0 Two weeks after finishing up at Sedgeford, he was in France.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Benson’s A.E.F. identification card, apparently issued in London; unfortunately, the date is illegible. From Benson, Leslie A. A. Benson Collection, 1917-1919, at the Smithsonian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Benson apparently immediately began serving as an instructor.\u00a0 Among his papers is a list of students and instructors dated July 26 [1918]; it does not indicate where the instruction was taking place, but, in addition to himself and his quondam passenger Lt. Krout, one of the instructors was \u201cLt. Gaines,\u201d probably Albert Belding Gaines, who taught at the Third Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun.29<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
This document is among those in Benson, Leslie A. A. Benson Collection, 1917-1919.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And, indeed, a memo from Geoffrey James Dwyer, who oversaw American pilots training in England, includes Benson, along with a number of other second Oxford detachment men, in a long list of men at the 3rd<\/sup> A.I.C. in July.30<\/a> Most were there to be trained on DH-4s; Benson had evidently distinguished himself already as a student sufficiently to be selected as an instructor. Hiram Bingham, in charge of the flying school at Issoudun, recalled that \u201cWith a sense of the importance of having the best possible teachers and a keen realization of the old adage that \u2018a stream cannot rise higher than its source,\u2019 it was early determined to retain only the very best American pilots for teachers and instructors.\u201d31<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Entries in Benson\u2019s log book resume on July 26, 1918, indicating he was flying a \u201cLiberty\u201d DH-4\u2014the American version of the British DH.4, equipped with a Liberty engine. Names of his passengers for this date correspond to those under his name in the list of instructors and pupils cited above.<\/p>\n

The last entry in Benson\u2019s log book is dated August 4, 1918, but a further list among his papers, dated August 6 [1918], shows him still involved in DH-4 instruction; another dated August 28, 1918, puts him at \u201cHQ. Field No. 7,\u201d presumably at Issoudun, continuing DH-4 instruction, and a memo from September 17, 1918, has him in charge of \u201cspirals\u201d and stipulates that students at Field No. 7 \u201creporting for formations and spirals will report to Lt. Benson for landings.\u201d\u00a0 On September 20, 1918, with fellow second Oxford detachment member Harry Adam Schlotzhauer as pilot, he took a brief \u201cjoy ride\u201d in a DH.9A.31a<\/a><\/p>\n

The next day Benson received permission to take a week\u2019s leave in Cannes.32<\/a> At some point after his return to Issoudun, he was reassigned to the recently opened Field No. 10 there. In the history of the field, written in late November 1918, Benson is among the staff \u201chonorably mentioned in connection with the success at Field 10\u201d; he is described as a \u201cTestor of Students.\u201d33<\/a>\u00a0An article about Field 10 in the\u00a0Plane News<\/i>\u00a0(the \u201cAir Service Paper of the A.E.F.,\u201d published at the 3rd<\/sup> A.I.C.) for February 8, 1919, thanks and lists the \u201cEfficient Instructor Staff,\u201d including \u201cLeslie A. Benson.\u201d34<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
This photo among Benson’s miscellaneous papers and photos. He wrote on the back “My old home at Mannenville.” Courtesy of Mike Benson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is some indication that Benson served briefly as an instructor at the Second Aviation Instruction Center at Tours.35<\/a>\u00a0In any case, towards the end of the war, he was posted to a squadron, the American 258th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero, which flew Salmson 2 A.2s. Benson\u2019s notes in an Officer\u2019s Record Book indicate that he joined the 258th<\/sup> in October 1918.36<\/a>\u00a0 The 258th<\/sup>\u00a0had been for a time stationed at Luxeuil; when it finally became operational at the end of October 1918, it was flying out of Mathay Aerodrome in eastern France near the border with Switzerland, a good thirty miles southeast of Luxeuil. When the war ended, the 258th<\/sup> was in the process of relocating to an aerodrome near Manonville, ten miles north of Toul, to take part in operations against Metz.37<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Holmes on left, with Benson, in an undated photo from Benson’s miscellaneous papers and photos. Courtesy of Mike Benson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

George Robert Holmes was posted to the 258th<\/sup> around the same time as Benson and served as Benson\u2019s observer.38<\/a> The two of them remained with the squadron in France well into the spring.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Benson in his Salmson 2 A.2, evidently during the winter months of 1918-1919. Courtesy of Mike Benson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In early May 1919, the 258th<\/sup> relocated to Wei\u00dfenthurm on the left bank of the Rhine a few miles northwest of Coblenz, as part of the Army of Occupation.39<\/a> Holmes may by this time have left the squadron, as he is documented embarking at Bordeaux for the voyage home on May 12, 1919.40<\/a> Benson, however, apparently remained with the squadron into June, when he made his way via Paris to Le Havre.41<\/a>\u00a0From there he was able to return home on the S.S.\u00a0La Lorraine<\/i>, which sailed on June 21, 1919, and arrived in New York on June 30, 1919.42<\/a><\/p>\n

On returning to the U.S. Benson took up medical studies at the University of Buffalo and set up a medical and surgical practice in Buffalo, New York.\u00a043<\/a><\/p>\n

mrsmcq May 17, 2017; revised September 30, 2020; April 7, 2021; September 16, 2022, based <\/em><\/span>on flying log book and Benson, miscellaneous papers and photos<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Notes<\/h3>\n
\n

(For complete bibliographic entries, please consult the list of\u00a0works and web pages cited<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

1<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Benson\u2019s full name is taken from Ohio University,\u00a0Catalog of Ohio University Athens, Ohio 1916-1917 and Circular of Information for 1917-1918<\/i>, p. 215. Benson\u2019s gravestone (see Boone, \u201cDr Leslie A A Benson\u201d) indicates he was born in 1897, and his high school graduation and college entrance dates (see below) would support this date, as do census records and a New Jersey birth record (Ancestry.com,\u00a0New Jersey, Births and Christenings Index, 1660\u20131931<\/i>, record for Benson.) However, Benson\u2019s draft registration, one of his New York military service cards, and an Officer\u2019s Record Book give 1895 as his year of birth. See Ancestry.com,\u00a0U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917\u20131918<\/i>, record for Leslie Alfred Benson, and Ancestry.com,\u00a0New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917\u20131919<\/i>, record for Leslie Alfred Benson; the Officer\u2019s Record Book is in Benson, Leslie A. A. Benson Collection, 1917-1919. Benson thus appears to be one of a number of men of the second Oxford detachment whose year of birth changed perhaps for military service purposes. For Benson\u2019s date and place of death, see \u201cBenson, Leslie A. A., MD.\u201d The photo is a detail from a group photo of Squadron 8<\/a> at the Ohio State University School of Military Aeronautics; Benson stands at the far left.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

2<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0This information is based on documents related to Louisa Elizabeth Hawkins (1870\u20131926) available at Ancestry.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

3<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Ancestry.com,\u00a01900 United States Federal Census<\/i>, record for Ernest Benson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

4<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Ancestry.com,\u00a01910 United States Federal Census<\/i>, record for Ernest H Benson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

5<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cSociety\u201d in\u00a0The Telegram<\/i>; \u201cBenson Elected Captain of E.F.A. Football Team,\u201d \u201cAcademy Show is Best Students Have Produced,\u201d and \u201cAcademy Students Offer Fine Christmas Program.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

6<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cDr. Leslie A. A. Benson, \u201920.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

7<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cElmira Boy an Aviator\u201d and \u201cGround School Graduations [for September 1, 1917].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

8<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Benson\u2019s name\u2014like that of Charles Edward Brown\u2014does not appear on the rosters of men of the second Oxford detachment in the Penttinen Collection (see \u201cRoster from Clayton Knight\u201d and \u201cRoster of Second Detachment\u201d), and is not in the list of Oxford detachment men that Springs appended to the 1926 edition of\u00a0War Birds<\/i>. Sloan,\u00a0Wings of Honor<\/i>, does not include Benson\u2019s name among the Oxford cadets, nor in the index, but does include it in Appendix V (\u201cThe Loners,\u201d p. 410). I would have overlooked Benson entirely were it not for a list of men posted December 3, 1917, compiled by Foss, about which more below. Benson\u2019s membership in the detachment is confirmed by the passenger lists for the\u00a0Carmania\u2019s<\/i>\u00a0September 18, 1917, voyage in the recently digitized War Department, Office of the Quartermaster General, Army Transport Service,\u00a0Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917 – 1938<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

9<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Hooper,\u00a0Somewhere in France<\/i>, letter of [November] 4, 1917<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

10<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for November 14, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

11<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Grider, diary entry for November 14, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

12<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Foss, Papers, \u201cCadets of Italian Detachment Posted Dec 3rd<\/sup>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

13<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Hooper,\u00a0Somewhere in France<\/i>, letter of December 18, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

14<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fleet\u2019s photo of a February 18, 1918, crash at Stamford places him there during this period. For Maloney\u2019s assignment to Stamford on January 26, 1918, see The National Archives (United Kingdom),\u00a0Royal Air Force officers’ service records 1918\u20131919<\/i>, record for C. B. Maloney. A remark by Clayton Knight puts Mooney at Stamford (see Kilduff, \u201cClayton Knight: Artist & Airman,\u201d p. 206).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

15<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Hagan\u2019s letter is among Benson\u2019s miscellaneous papers and photos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

16<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Benson, Pilot\u2019s Flying Log Book. Unless otherwise noted, information about Benson\u2019s flight training is based on his log book.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

17<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Benson gives the plane\u2019s serial number as \u201c9993.\u201d Robertson,\u00a0Military Aircraft Serials 1878\u20131987<\/i>, indicates that both 9993 and B9993 were B.E.2c\u2019s. Benson, like many pilots, was casual about providing letter prefixes, so he may have been flying either 9993 or B9993. Palmer\u2019s logbook also records plane \u201c9993″ as a B.E.2e rather than as a B.E.2c Possibly the plane they flew was built as a B.E2c but modified to be a B.E.2e.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

18<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0O.C. is \u201cofficer commanding.\u201d See \u201cC.O. & O.C. – what is the difference?\u201d for an explanation of this officer\u2019s role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

19<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0See the graduation requirements<\/a> given in, for example, Foss\u2019s R.F.C. Training Transfer Cards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

20<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Cablegram 874-S, dated April 8, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

21<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Cablegram 726-S.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

22<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

23<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Cablegram 955-R.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

24<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Benson gives the number 4009, which must be B4009\u2014which, however, Robertson,\u00a0Military Aircraft Serials 1878\u20131987<\/i>, designates a B.E.2c.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

25<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cArrival Form\u201d among the documents in Benson, Leslie A. A. Benson Collection, 1917-1919.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

26<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Cablegram 1303-R; Fleet\u2019s comments are in a letter from him to Benson dated May 31 [1918] among the documents in the above-cited Benson Collection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

27<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Goettler\u2019s diary entry for May 19, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

28<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0The ration card (\u201cSpecial Emergency Card), Fleet\u2019s note, and the receipt are among Benson\u2019s miscellaneous papers and photos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

29<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0On Gaines, see \u201cAlbert Belding Gaines, Jr., \u201905.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

30<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Dwyer, \u201cMemorandum No. 8 for Flying Officer,\u201d p. 4.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

31<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Bingham,\u00a0An Explorer in the Air Service<\/i>, p. 128.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

31a<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 See Schlotzhauer\u2019s Pilot’s Flying Log Book.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

32<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0There is an \u201cArm\u00e9e Am\u00e9ricaine Permission\u201d signed by Hiram Bingham to this effect among Benson\u2019s miscellaneous papers and photos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

33<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHistory of Field 10 Third Aviation Instruction Center,\u201d pp. 331\u201332.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

34<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cQuota of Pilots Completing D. H.-4 Transformation Always Met at Field No. Ten.\u201d (\u201cTransformation\u201d was the name given to the intermediate stage of observation pilot training; see\u00a0History of Aerial Observation Training in the American E.F.<\/i>, p. 24.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

35<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Sloan,\u00a0Wings of Honor<\/i>, p. 410; among the photos Benson kept from this period is one labelled \u201cTours.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

36<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0The Officer\u2019s record book is among the documents in Benson, Leslie A. A. Benson Collection, 1917-1919.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

37<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Moremen, \u201cAir Service History, 258th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron (Service).\u201d Moremen, \u201cAir Service History, 258th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron (Service),\u201d p. 46, implies a date closer to the Armistice. Sloan,\u00a0Wings of Honor<\/i>, p. 410, has Benson assigned to the 258th<\/sup>\u00a0on November 20, 1918,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

38<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Moremen, \u201cAir Service History, 258th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron (Service),\u201d p. 46, for Holmes\u2019s posting to the 258th<\/sup>. Benson kept a number of photos in which he identifies Holmes as his observer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

39<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See account provided by James Albert Newman on p. 232 of Wycoff,\u00a0Ripley County’s Part in the World War, 1917-1918<\/i>. Wikipedia, \u201c258th Aero Squadron\u201d provides some information about the post-war activities of the 258th<\/sup>, giving Moreman (cited above) as the source. However, the information is not in Moreman, so the reliability of the Wikipedia article cannot be assessed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

40<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ancestry.com,\u00a0U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939<\/i>, record for George R. Holmes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

41<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0There is a room ticket for the Hotel du Louvre in Paris dated June 14, 1919, among Benson\u2019s miscellaneous papers and photos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

42<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ancestry.com,\u00a0U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939<\/i>, record for Leslie A. Benson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

43<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cDr. Benson\u2019s Rites Set for Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0(Elizabeth, New Jersey, October 16, 1897 [?] \u2013 Eggertsville, New York, May 19, 1964).1 No. 112 Squadron, 5 T.D.S. Stamford\u00a0\u00a0\u272f\u00a0 9 T.S. Sedgeford \u00a0\u272f\u00a0 France\u00a0 Benson\u2019s mother, Louisa Elizabeth Hawkins, emigrated with her family from Staffordshire, England, to New Jersey around 1882.2 There she met and married Ernest Herman Benson, who was working in Elizabeth … Continue reading “Leslie Alfred Amzia Benson”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300,"parent":30,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-297","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8448,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/297\/revisions\/8448"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}