Captain Arthur Thomas Drinkwater was an Australian-born World War I flying ace

Flying ace

A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...

. He was credited with nine aerial victories; six of those victories were scored when Drinkwater was a bomber pilot, making him one of the rare bomber pilot aces.

Early life

Arthur Thomas Drinkwater (1894 - 1972) was born in Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia. His father's name was Alfred. When he enlisted on 16 October 1915, he declared he was a natural-born British subject, and that he was a professional soldier. Despite being not quite 22 years old, he claimed two years prior service in a Field Troop and almost four years experience in the Royal Australian Engineers

Royal Australian Engineers

The Royal Australian Engineers is a corps of the Australian Army . The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, behind the Staff Cadets, Armoured and Artillery Corps...

. He was assigned Regimental Number 2842 and posted initially to the 7th Field Company Engineers

2nd Combat Engineer Regiment (Australia)

The 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment ' is an Australian Army modular engineer regiment trained for sapper/combat engineer operations. 2 CER's lineage is traced back to 7th Field Company . During World War I, this unit was renowned for action during the Battle of the Somme, Menin Road and the Hindenburg...

, seemingly marked for cadre

En cadre

En cadre or cadre is a French expression originally denoting either the complement of commissioned officers of a regiment or the permanent skeleton establishment of a unit, around which the unit could be built if needed...

 duty.

World War I

By mid-1917, while in England, he had transferred to aviation service. On 20 June 1917 second lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 A. T. Drinkwater was appointed a Flying Officer

Flying Officer

Flying officer is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence...

 in the Royal Flying Corps

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

.

Within two months, he began his victory string while flying bombing missions in an Airco D.H. 4 light bomber with 57 Squadron. Teamed with Frank Menendez

Frank Tremar Sibly Menendez

Lieutenant Frank Tremar Sibly Menendez was a World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories....

 as his backseater, he scored six victories over the next three months before being withdrawn from combat.

He would return to battle the following year, as a Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a fighter pilot in 40 Squadron. He would score three more wins while with them. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

List of aerial victories

See also Aerial victory standards of World War I

Aerial victory standards of World War I

During World War I, the national air services involved developed their own methods of assessing and assigning credit for aerial victories.The victory scores of the pilots represented at List of World War I flying aces often cannot be definitive, but are based on itemized lists that are the best...

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No.	Date/time	Aircraft	Foe	Result	Location	Notes
1	18 August 1917 @ 1920 hours	Airco D.H.4 serial number A2138	Albatros D.V Albatros D.V |-See also:-Bibliography:*Bennett, Leon. Gunning for the Red Baron. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2006. ISBN 1-58544-507-X....	Driven down out of control	Courtrai	Observer/gunner: Frank Menendez Frank Tremar Sibly Menendez Lieutenant Frank Tremar Sibly Menendez was a World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories....
2	20 August 1917 @ 1130 hours	Airco D.H. 4 s/n A2132	Albatros D.V	Driven down out of control	Houthoulst Forest	Observer/gunner: Frank Menendez
3	21 September 1917 @ 1050 hours	Airco D.H. 4 s/n A7851	Albatros D.V	Destroyed	Dadizeele	Observer/gunner: Frank Menendez
4	21 September 1917 @ 1050 hours	Airco D.H. 4 s/n A7851	Albatros D.V A7851	Destroyed	Dadizeele	Observer/gunner: Frank Menendez
5	21 November 1917 @ 1145 hours	Airco D.H. 4 s/n A7424	Albatros D.V	Driven down out of control	Southeast of Houthoulst Forest	Observer/gunner: Frank Menendez
6	21 November 1917 @ 1145 hours	Airco D.H. 4 s/n A7424	Albatros D.V	Driven down out of control	Southeast of Houthoulst Forest	Observer/gunner: Frank Menendez
7	17 September 1918 @ 0955 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n E5982	Fokker D.VII Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service, the D.VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft...	Driven down out of control	Southeast of Cambrai Cambrai Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...
8	1 October 1918 @ 1245 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n F5527	Halberstadt Halberstadt Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....  reconnaissance plane	Set afire; destroyed	North of Cambrai
9	9 October 1918 @ 0740 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n E4036	Fokker D.VII	Driven down out of control	Northeast of Cambrai

Post World War I

His Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded on 3 June 1919. A month later, on 3 July 1919, he departed England for Australia on the Prinz Hubertus; interestingly enough, he was expressly manifested as not part of the Australian Imperial Force

Australian Imperial Force

The Australian Imperial Force was the name given to all-volunteer Australian Army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II.* First Australian Imperial Force * Second Australian Imperial Force...

. While he was at sea, on 15 July 1919, he was transferred to the unemployed list of the Royal Air Force.

Although Australian newspapers of the postwar era carry a few notices of a pastorialist named A. T. Drinkwater, it cannot be confirmed if this was the ace. Arthur Thomas Drinkwater died in 1972 in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia.

Reference

• Franks, Norman
  Norman Franks
  Norman Leslie Robert Franks is an English writer who specialises in aviation books on the pilots and squadrons of World Wars I and II.-Biography:...
  
  ; Guest, Russell; Alegi, Gregory. Above the War Fronts: the British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and the Belgian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914-1918: Volume 4 of Fighting Airmen of WWI Series: Volume 4 of Air Aces of WWI. Grub Street, 1997. ISBN 1898697566, 978189869756.