# Claud Stokes

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{{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](/source/Blackheath%2C_London), [London](/source/London), [England](/source/England)
| death_place        = 
| burial_label       = 
| burial_place       = [Erquelinnes](/source/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](/source/No._41_Squadron_RFC)<br/>[No. 57 Squadron RFC/RAF](/source/No._57_Squadron_RAF)
| commands           = 
| battles            = World War I<br/>{{*}}[Western Front](/source/Western_Front_(World_War_I))
| awards             = [Distinguished Flying Cross](/source/Distinguished_Flying_Cross_(United_Kingdom))
| relations          = 
| other_work         = 
}}
Captain '''Claud Harry Stokes''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DFC}} (16 March 1884 – 7 November 1918) was a [British](/source/British_people) [First World War](/source/World_War_I) [flying ace](/source/flying_ace) credited with [five aerial victories](/source/List_of_World_War_I_aces_credited_with_5_victories), all while flying the [Airco DH.4](/source/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](/source/Blackheath%2C_London) 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](/source/Flight_International) |date=13 November 1919 |access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref> From 1910 he worked as a [mechanical engineer](/source/mechanical_engineer) in [Rhodesia](/source/Southern_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](/source/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](/source/Royal_Aero_Club) Aviator's Certificate<ref name="theaerodrome"/> and appointed a [flying officer](/source/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](/source/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](/source/flight_commander) with the [acting rank](/source/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](/source/No._57_Squadron_RAF).{{sfnp|Franks|Guest|Alegi|1997|p=75}} He was credited with five victories while flying an [Airco DH.4](/source/Airco_DH.4) [light bomber](/source/light_bomber); firstly a [Pfalz D.III](/source/Pfalz_D.III) on 19 June 1918, and then a [Fokker D.VII](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Airco_DH.4)<br/>(D8398) || [Pfalz D.III](/source/Pfalz_D.III) || Out of control || [Bapaume](/source/Bapaume) || Observer: Captain J. H. Bowler.
|-
|2 || 23 June 1918<br/>@ 1510 || D.H.4<br/>(D8398) || [Fokker D.VII](/source/Fokker_D.VII) || Out of control || [Le Transloy](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Fontaine-Notre-Dame%2C_Nord) || 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}}

{{Authority control}}

{{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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Claud Stokes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claud_Stokes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claud_Stokes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.