[1] Kinkead was born in Johannesburg, South African Republic,[1] to an Irish father and Scottish mother who had recently emigrated there.

Upon recovery, he was forwarded to England, where his older brother Thompson was training as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps.

Samuel Kinkead was assigned to 1 Naval Squadron to fly Nieuports on the Western Front.

Out of the victories whose details are recorded, Kinkead claimed 23 enemy planes 'out of control' including three shared.

It was while supporting General Denikin's Royalists that, on 12 October 1919, he won the Distinguished Service Order for a crucial ground attack against a Bolshevik cavalry division near Kotluban, thus saving the city of Tsaritsyn from capture.

In 1928, while in command of the RAF High Speed Flight, Kinkead was killed in a plane crash as he tried to become the first man to travel at more than five miles a minute[4] in a Supermarine S.5 near Calshot England.

The witnesses to the crash thought Kinkead was flying very low and very fast when his S.5 dived into moderately deep water near the Calshot Lightship.

Although the RAF Duty Motorboat quickly buoyed the wreck site it took two days for the salvage vessel to find and retrieve the wreckage that had split into two parts.

It was at first thought that Kinkead had been thrown clear of the machine during the crash but his body was found, minus half of his head, compressed into the tail.

Although neither the RAF inquiry nor the Coroner's Inquest were able to give a definitive cause for the accident, D'Arcy Grieg (the pilot who took over from Kinkead) had his own theory as to what had happened.

He ruled out mechanical failure of the aircraft because they were too well maintained but said Kinkead was killed by a combination of factors including recovering from a bout of malaria that would have him feeling 'a bit below par.'

The sea was glass calm and therefore it was impossible to judge height accurately and there was a mist, so he had no horizon when coming in.

Grieg also thought the fumes from the engine and the heat from the oil coolers would have turned the cockpit into an extremely hot Turkish bath.

He is an exceptionally good pilot, and a clever and plucky fighter, and has performed very fine work, both on offensive patrols and on low flying missions.

A skilful and gallant leader, who has attacked enemy formations superior in numbers with marked success.

On 12 October 1919, near Kotluban, this officer led a formation of Camel machines and attacked the Cavalry Division of Boris Dumenko.

By skilful tactics in low flying he dispersed this force, which had turned the left flank of the Caucasian Army, and threatened to jeopardise the whole defence of Tsaritsyn.

Flying Officer Kinkead has carried out similar attacks on enemy troops, batteries, camps and transport with great success at considerable personal risk.