{{short description|British World War I flying ace}} {{distinguish|Claude Stokes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox military person | name = Claud Harry Stokes | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1884|3|16|df=y}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1918|11|7|1884|3|16|df=y}} | birth_place = Blackheath, London, England | death_place = | burial_label = | burial_place = Erquelinnes Communal Cemetery, Belgium | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | nickname = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = British Army<br/>Royal Air Force | service_years = 1916–1918 | rank = Captain | unit = No. 41 Squadron RFC<br/>No. 57 Squadron RFC/RAF | commands = | battles = World War I<br/>{{*}}Western Front | awards = Distinguished Flying Cross | relations = | other_work = }} Captain '''Claud Harry Stokes''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DFC}} (16 March 1884 – 7 November 1918) was a British First World War flying ace credited with five aerial victories, all while flying the Airco DH.4.<ref name="theaerodrome">{{cite web |url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/stokes.php |title=Claud Harry Stokes |work=The Aerodrome |year=2016 |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref> ==Biography== Stokes was born in Blackheath in south-east London, the youngest son of Henry and Harriet Stokes.<ref name="theaerodrome"/><ref name="FlightObit">{{cite journal |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1919/1919%20-%201487.html |title=Personals: Deaths |issue=568 |volume=XI |page=1489 |journal=Flight |date=13 November 1919 |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref> From 1910 he worked as a mechanical engineer in Rhodesia, before returning to England with his wife and family in 1916.
He was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Flying Corps on 3 June 1916.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=9 June 1916 |supp=y |issue=29619 |page=5808}}</ref> He was granted his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate<ref name="theaerodrome"/> and appointed a flying officer on 24 August,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=19 September 1916 |supp=y |issue=29756 |page=9175 |nolink=yes}}</ref> and was confirmed in his rank on 19 September.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=19 September 1916 |issue=29755 |page=9120 |nolink=yes}}</ref> Stokes was posted to No. 41 Squadron RFC on 15 October 1916, but was injured after only five days in action and returned to England.{{sfnp|Franks|Guest|Alegi|1997|p=75}} After his recovery he served as an instructor,{{sfnp|Franks|Guest|Alegi|1997|p=75}} being appointed a Wing Instructor in Gunnery, graded as a flight commander with the acting rank of captain on 3 February 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=13 March 1917 |issue=29982 |page=2515 |nolink=yes}}</ref> He was appointed an instructor in Gunnery, graded as an Equipment Officer 1st Class, on 5 June.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=20 July 1917 |supp=y |issue=30193 |pages=7407–7408 |nolink=yes}}</ref>
Stokes was promoted to lieutenant on 3 December 1917,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=28 May 1918 |supp=y |issue=30709 |page=6304 |nolink=yes}}</ref> and on 2 January 1918 was appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain<ref>{{London Gazette |date=26 February 1918 |supp=y |issue=30550 |pages=2609–2610 |nolink=yes}}</ref> to serve in No. 57 Squadron RFC.{{sfnp|Franks|Guest|Alegi|1997|p=75}} He was credited with five victories while flying an Airco DH.4 light bomber; firstly a Pfalz D.III on 19 June 1918, and then a Fokker D.VII on 23 June, two more on 16 September, and finally another D.VII on 21 September 1918.{{sfnp|Franks|Guest|Alegi|1997|p=75}}
On the afternoon of 29 October 1918 his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Maubeuge, France, and crashed behind the German lines. Stokes was badly injured and died as a result of his wounds on 7 November. His observer, Second Lieutenant Leslie Harvey Eyres (of MacGregor, Man., Canada) survived and was taken prisoner.<ref name="FlightObit"/><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.luchtvaarterfgoed.be/content/graf-capt-ch-stokes |title=Graf Capt. C.H. Stokes |work=Belgisch Luchtvaarterfgoed |year=2016 |access-date=10 February 2016 |language=Dutch}}</ref> Stokes was buried by the Germans in the cemetery at Erquelinnes, Belgium.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/481761/STOKES,%20CLAUD%20HARRY |title=Casualty Details: Stokes, Claud Harry |work=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |year=2016 |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref>
Stokes was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 1 January 1919,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=31 December 1918 |supp=y |issue=31098 |page=96 |nolink=yes}}</ref> and received a mention in dispatches for "valuable services rendered during the War" on 3 June 1919.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1919/1919%20-%200786.html |title=Mentioned in Dispatches |issue=546 |volume=XI |page=786 |journal=Flight |date=12 June 1919 |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref>
Somewhat ironically, his daughter, Margaret,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geni.com/people/Margaret-Scharff/6000000001480773952 |title=Margaret Scharff (1913 - d.) |work=geni.com |year=2016 |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref> would later marry a German living in South Africa, Hanns Scharff who, after being stranded back in Germany due to the outbreak of the Second World War, became the chief interrogator of the German ''Luftwaffe'', responsible for interrogating captured Allied air force officers.
==List of aerial victories== {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;" |- |+Combat record<ref name="theaerodrome"/>{{sfnp|Franks|Guest|Alegi|1997|p=75}} |- !No. ! width="125" |Date/Time ! width="100" |Aircraft/<br/>Serial No. ! width="100" |Opponent ! width="100" |Result !Location !Notes |- |1 || 19 June 1918<br/>@ 1930 || D.H.4<br/>(D8398) || Pfalz D.III || Out of control || Bapaume || Observer: Captain J. H. Bowler. |- |2 || 23 June 1918<br/>@ 1510 || D.H.4<br/>(D8398) || Fokker D.VII || Out of control || Le Transloy || Observer: Second Lieutenant T. C. Danby. |- |3 || rowspan="2" |16 September 1918<br/>@ 1215 || rowspan="2" |D.H.4<br/>(D8398) || Fokker D.VII || Out of control || rowspan="2" |Havrincourt Wood || rowspan="2" |Observer: Lieutenant R. D. Bovill. |- |4 || Fokker D.VII || Out of control |- |5 || 21 September 1918<br/>@ 1835 || D.H.4<br/>(D8398) || Fokker D.VII || Out of control || North of Fontaine-Notre Dame || Observer: Lieutenant R. D. Bovill. |- |}
==References== ;Notes {{Reflist|30em}} ;Bibliography * {{cite book |first1=Norman |last1=Franks |authorlink1=Norman Franks |first2=Russell F. |last2=Guest |first3=Gregory |last3=Alegi |title=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 |location=London, UK |publisher=Grub Street |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-898697-56-5 |name-list-style=amp}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Claud}} Category:1884 births Category:1918 deaths Category:People from Blackheath, London Category:Royal Flying Corps officers Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Category:British World War I flying aces Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Category:British military personnel killed in World War I Category:Aviators killed by being shot down