William Thomas Ponder

Name:

Country:

United States

Rank:

Lieutenant

Service:

French Air Service
United States Air Service

Units:

Spa67, Spa163 (FAS)
103^rd Aero (USAS)

Victories:

Born:

16 March 1891

Place of Birth:

Llano, Texas, USA

Died:

27 February 1947

Place of Death:

Amarillo, Texas, USA

Cemetery:

Riverside Cemetery, Mangum, Oklahoma, USA

After serving with the French Air Service and scoring three victories, William Thomas Ponder transferred to the United States Air Service on 27 February 1918. Assigned to the 103rd Aero Squadron on 7 September 1918, he scored three more victories in October while flying the SPAD XIII. In 1932 he encountered problems with the law when he was caught smuggling Mexican beer into the country. During World War II Ponder was employed by Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation in Fort Worth. After the war he formed the Ponder Aircraft Sales Company and was on a business trip to Amarillo, Texas when he died, age 53, in a hotel room from a heart attack.

World War Ace Is Arrested For Running Beer by Plane
The Times Recorder, Zanesville, Ohio - Friday, May 27, 1932
Flier Freed on Bond in Beer Seizure
The San Antonio Light - Friday, May 27, 1932

The San Diego Union, San Diego, California, Friday Morning, 2 August 1918, page 10

Morning Advocate, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Sunday, 9 April 1933, page 3

The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas, Saturday, 11 June 1921, page 3

Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to William Thomas Ponder, First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Fontaines, France, October 23, 1918. Having been separated from, his patrol, Lieutenant Ponder observed and went to the assistance of an allied plane which was being attacked by 30 of the enemy. Lieutenant Ponder destroyed one enemy plane .and so demoralized the remaining that both he and his comrade were able to return to their lines.

General Orders No. 46, W.D., 1919

Victories

	Date	Time	Unit	Aircraft	Opponent	Location
1	28 May 1918		Spa163	SPAD	LVG C ¹	Savigny
2	08 Jul 1918		Spa163	SPAD	EA	Somme-Py
3	11 Aug 1918	1205	Spa163	SPAD	Two-seater ²	Betheniville
4	19 Oct 1918	0835	103^rd	SPAD XIII	Halberstadt C ³	La Croix aux Bois
5	23 Oct 1918	1140	103^rd	SPAD XIII	Fokker D.VII	Fontaines
6	30 Oct 1918	1550	103^rd	SPAD XIII	Fokker D.VII ⁴	Bois de Barricourt

1	Shared with Lt Thomas Cassady, Cpl Dequeker
2	Shared with Lt Thomas Cassady, Sgt Cook
3	Shared with Lt Frank Hunter
4	Shared with Lt H B Bartholf

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)