He then tried several times to enlist in the army in Winnipeg, and in the cadet wing of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in Toronto.

On 27 March 1918 over Albert, France, McLeod, with his observer Lieutenant Arthur Hammond, in an Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 destroyed an enemy triplane and were immediately attacked by eight more, three of which they brought down.

During the fight, both McLeod and Hammond were wounded by machine gun bullets, the petrol tank was punctured and the aircraft set on fire.

McLeod instantly pushed her over into a very steep side-slip, but the flames were scorching him, and so he jumped out of his cockpit on to the left wing and crouched low, with the joystick pulled hard over in his right hand.

When the machine finally crashed in No Man's Land, the young pilot, not minding his own injuries, dragged his comrade from the burning wreckage and under heavy fire carried him to comparative safety, before collapsing from exhaustion and loss of blood.

Dr. David Christie, of Westminster Church, Winnipeg, wrote a moving tribute which appeared in the Manitoba Free Press on the evening of 7 November, the day after McLeod's death.

His former family home is the McLeod Tea House and Stonewall Collegiate has his likeness as a bust displayed in the high school library.

The primary student quarters at 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School is named the Lt Alan McLeod Building.

It is unique in that Alan McLeod is the only VC recipient who died on active service to be buried in Canada.