Oliver Colin LeBoutillier

Name:

Oliver Colin "Boots" LeBoutillier

Country:

United States

Rank:

Captain

Service:

Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Air Force

Units:

9N (RNAS)
209 (RAF)

Victories:

Born:

24 May 1894

Place of Birth:

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Died:

12 May 1983

Place of Death:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Cemetery:

Bunker Brother's Memory Gardens Memorial and Cemetery, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Having trained at the Wright School in Mineola, New York, Oliver Colin LeBoutillier, the son of an English father and Canadian mother, joined the Royal Naval Air Service on 21 August 1916. Posted to 9 Naval Squadron (later 209 Squadron), he scored 10 victories flying the Sopwith Triplane and the Sopwith Camel. On 21 April 1918 he was one of the four American airmen who participated in the dogfight that ultimately led to the death of Germany's greatest ace, Manfred von Richthofen. Captain LeBoutillier was transferred to the unemployed list on 11 February 1919. Post-war, he returned to the United States where he became a skywriter and gave Amelia Earhart her first lesson on twin engined aircraft. In 1928, LeBoutillier was Mabel Boll's pilot in her failed attempt to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic in a plane. As a Hollywood stunt pilot, LeBoutillier appeared in eighteen movies including "Hell's Angels." In all, he had 19,000 hours of flight time when his flying career finally ended.

Brownie Did It
Fresno Bee - Friday, July 13, 1973
American Pilot Recalls Day Red Baron Was Shot Down
News Journal - Sunday, October 25, 1970

The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, Friday, 22 June 1928, page 12

Sunday World-Herald, Omaha, Nebraska, Sunday, 25 October 1970, page 23A

Victories

	Date	Time	Unit	Aircraft	Opponent	Location
1	25 May 1917	1630	9N	Sopwith Triplane (N5459)	LVG C (OOC)	Off Ostend
2	05 Jun 1917	1930	9N	Sopwith Triplane (N5459)	Albatros D.III (OOC)	Off Ostend
3	17 Jul 1917	0510	9N	Sopwith Triplane (N5459)	Albatros D.V (OOC) ¹	Nieuport
4	29 Jul 1917	0530	9N	Sopwith Triplane (N5484)	Albatros D.III (OOC)	Leke
5	21 Apr 1918	1025	209	Sopwith Camel (D3338)	Albatros C (DES) ²	Beaucourt
6	22 Apr 1918	0610	209	Sopwith Camel (D3338)	DFW C (CAP) ³	Albert
7	04 May 1918	1555	209	Sopwith Camel (D3338)	Pfalz D.III (OOC)	E of Villers-Bretonneaux
8	09 May 1918	1145	209	Sopwith Camel (D3338)	Fokker DR.I (DES)	S of Bray
9	16 May 1918	0940	209	Sopwith Camel (D3338)	LVG C (DES) ⁴	Bayonvillers
10	31 May 1918	1920	209	Sopwith Camel (D3338)	Albatros D.V (OOC)	Vauvillers

1	Shared with FLt Edmund Pierce, FSL MacDonald, FSL R B Freeland, FSL W E B Oakley
2	Shared with Lt Robert Foster, Lt Merrill Taylor
3	Shared with Lt Robert Foster, Lt M A Harker, Lt Merrill Taylor, Lt Cecil Brock
4	Shared with Capt Robert Foster

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)