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Francis Magoun [USA]

Name:Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr.
Country:United States
Rank:Lieutenant
Service:Royal Flying Corps
Royal Air Force
Squadron:1
Victories:5
Born:6 January 1895
Place of Birth:New York, New York
Died:5 June 1979
Place of Death:Cambridge, Massachusetts
Military Cross (MC)Francis Magoun
Notes
A graduate of Harvard University, Magoun joined the U.S. Ambulance Service in February 1916. After serving on the Western Front, he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. Following preliminary training at Oxford University, he was sent to France for advanced flight training with the Royal Naval Air Service. Receiving a commission in July 1917 and a pilot's certificate on 3 September 1917, he was posted to 1 Squadron. Flying the S.E.5a, he scored four victories before he was wounded in action while strafing enemy troops on 10 April 1918. He returned to his squadron in October 1918, becoming an ace on 28 October 1918 after downing a Fokker D.VII near Anor. Remaining in England at the end of the war, Magoun was a graduate student at Cambridge before returning to the United States. He later became an English professor at Harvard, specializing in Finnish studies. Magoun published more than a dozen books, including a prose translation of the great Finnish epic, "The Kalevala." Honored by Finland in 1964, he was awarded the Order of the Lion.

Military Cross (MC)
"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When engaged on bombing work, he attacked and shot down an enemy machine, with the result that it crashed to earth. He also engaged massed enemy troops and transport with machine gun fire from low altitudes, throwing the enemy into the utmost confusion and inflicting heavy casualties. His work has been carried out with consistent keenness and tenacity." MC citation

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