[4] His father William H. McCudden took a post at the Air Ministry at the rank of warrant officer after the Great War, but would die tragically at Clapham Junction railway station on 7 July 1920.

His father's retirement soon placed a heavy strain on the family finances and as a consequence McCudden felt obliged to find a job before he could enlist once he turned 15.

McCudden's delight at gaining a promotion was cut short by news that his brother William had been killed in an air crash while flying an elderly Blériot.

Later that day he was awarded his Royal Aero Club certificate after completing four figure-of-eight turns, a glide from 1,200 feet and a landing within forty yards of a selected mark.

Restarting his engine as the German closed, McCudden outmanoeuvred him and was presented with a close-astern shot, but once again his gun jammed and the battle ended inconclusively when the faster Fokker dived away.

The enemy aircraft was fired at by British ground forces and McCudden, who by now had unjammed his Lewis machine gun, turned to give pursuit.

It has been suggested that the enemy pilot was none other than Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron", in which case McCudden had narrowly avoided becoming the rising star's 15th victim.

Richthofen was credited with a "two seat Vickers biplane" that afternoon, which has usually been listed as the F.E.2b of Captain Quested and Lieutenant Dicksee, but recent research indicates that the action with McCudden may fit the time frame.

McCudden was notoriously private about this aspect of his life but it was suspected that he took her on unauthorised flights in the Scout since his log book recorded such escapades in April.

[48] It is known McCudden proved remarkably good at stalking tactics, which enabled him to get up underneath an opponent, pull down the wing gun and fire up into the German machine.

The first the recipients would know of the attack was bullets coming up through the bottom of the fuselage of the aircraft, often causing death or injury, holing petrol tanks and crippling engines.

While collecting one from Rochester, England on 12 August 1917 a Gotha raid occurred and within 30 minutes he was flying at 17,000 feet over Herne Bay in an attempt to intercept them.

Albert Ball (44 victories), rising star Arthur Rhys-Davids (27) and McCudden's former pupil Geoffrey Hilton Bowman (32) were just some of the fighter aces who flew with the unit.

56's commanding officer, Major Richard Bloomfield noticed McCudden's leadership qualities and had hoped he could help turn the unit into an effective fighting team.

He believed the finer the aircraft could be tuned the less likelihood there would be of losing pilots to structural or mechanical failures, which at that time were the cause of many fatalities among aircrew.

He spent three days working with his fitters and armourers, stripping down the Vickers gun's synchronising gear, firing at the butts and making eight test flights shooting at ground targets.

[61] On 19 September he attacked a Rumpler C.IV which he drove down to 1,000 feet and saw camera and photographic plates fall from the machine as it took violent evasive action.

In the remaining eight months of the war, only British pilots Billy Bishop (72) and Mick Mannock (61) and Raymond Collishaw (60) would surpass his total while serving with the RFC (and later the Royal Air Force—RAF).

[74] Unlike the German and French governments, the War Office had been reluctant to identify individual soldiers and aces for propaganda and public consumption, the most notable exception being Albert Ball.

He campaigned for "air mindedness", when aircraft began to make technological headway and the nation, now facing the existence and efficiency of airships which could circumvent the North Sea and English Channel, was now increasingly concerned about aerial bombardment.

As head of the Ministry and Daily Mail, he felt an opportunity was being missed, and so ran a campaign in his publications to name outstanding individual combatants.

[78] In the front page segment it read: What I want to know is why an Englishman whose hobby is bringing down sky Huns in braces and trios between luncheon and tea, who can already claim a bag of 30 enemy aircraft, should have to wait and be killed before a grateful nation waiting to acclaim him could even learn his name?I wonder if people in England realize that the German Air Service is the most popular and feted branch of the Kaiser's war machine because German authorities have imagination enough to exploit its personal side?

He wrote to his brother's commanding officer, Sholto Douglas asking for any news but understanding the Major's attention was now fixed on the German spring offensive.

[82] Shying away from this publicity, McCudden did not even tell his family of his attendance at Buckingham Palace on 6 April to receive his Victoria Cross from King George V and promotion to major.

He met C. G. Grey owner of The Aeroplane weeks later who offered to help McCudden finish his manuscript for his biography, Flying Fury, due for publication that year.

[84] Corporal Burdett later stated, "When McCudden took off he put the machine into a nearly vertical climb, seemed to do a half-roll and then nosed dived into a wood... it was usual for scout pilots to perform some little stunt...

"[84] Witness Lieutenant L. M. Fenton had a different view, "the aircraft took off into wind and at about 100 feet did a vertical turn and flew back across the aerodrome by the side of the wood.

"[84] Lieutenant E.M Greenwood stated he thought the crash was the result of a failed aerobatic manoeuvre: "I was watching an S.E.5 flying over the aerodrome at about 200 feet, when it did one complete roll to the right, then dived steeply to the ground behind the trees.

Many years later other witnesses disputed the aircraft performed a roll, but all agreed the trouble began when the machine entered an attitude resembling a near-vertical turn.

Today all of McCudden's medals including his Victoria Cross are displayed at the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham, Kent, alongside those of two of his brothers and his father.