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Today in History



Name: Alvin Andrew Callender
Alvin Callender
Country: United States
Rank: Captain
Service: Royal Flying Corps
Royal Air Force
Units: 32
Victories: 8
Born: 04 July 1893
Place of Birth: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Died: 30 October 1918 Killed In Action
Place of Death: Ghislain
Cemetery: Valenciennes (St. Roch) Communal Cemetery, Nord, France Image
 
 
A graduate of Tulane University with a degree in architecture, Callender served on the Mexican border with the National Guard in 1916. In June 1917, he joined the Royal Flying Corps in Canada. Posted to 32 Squadron in May 1918, he was shot down in June but was uninjured. On 30 October 1918, in the heaviest air fighting of the war, Callender's S.E.5a was shot down over Ghislain by members of Jasta 2. Falling behind his own lines, he soon died from a fatal chest wound. Callender's descendants published a collection of his letters and photographs entitled "War in an Open Cockpit." New Orleans' first municipal airport was named Alvin Callender Field in 1926. Built on the same site, Naval Air Station New Orleans was renamed Alvin Callender Field in April 1958.
 
Victories
Date Time Unit Aircraft Opponent Location
1 28 May 1918 1830 32 S.E.5a (C1884) Pfalz D.III (OOC) Armentières
2 06 Jun 1918 1900 32 S.E.5a (C1884) Fokker D.VII (OOC) Montdidier
3 08 Jul 1918 0810 32 S.E.5a (C1903) Fokker D.VII (OOC) Bauvin
4 25 Jul 1918 1930 32 S.E.5a (C1903) Fokker D.VII   (DES) Fismes
5 10 Aug 1918 1140 32 S.E.5a (C9565) Fokker D.VII (OOC) Péronne
6 16 Sep 1918 1810 32 S.E.5a (E6010) Fokker D.VII (OOC) Sancourt
7 24 Sep 1918 1705 32 S.E.5a (E6010) Fokker D.VII (OOC) N of Bourlon Wood
8 24 Sep 1918 1710 32 S.E.5a (E6010) Fokker D.VII (OOC) N of Bourlon Wood
 
Books
American Aces of World War 1
by Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey (Illustrator) / Paperback / Osprey Publishing (September 25, 2001)
Over the Front
by Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey / Hardcover / Grub Street the Basement (May 1992)
In Clouds of Glory: American Airmen Who Flew With The British During The Great War
by James J. Hudson / Paperback / University of Arkansas Press (October 1, 1990)
War in an Open Cockpit
The Wartime Letters of Captain Alvin Andrew Callender, RAF / Hardcover / West Roxbury, MA: WW1 Aero 1978
 
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