William Lidstone "Willie" McKnight
Canada's 2nd Ace of WW2

                  August 26, 1940

Dear Mike,
This game is damn good fun when you are fighting bombers as they’re just like picking apples off a tree but fighters are a hell of a different proposition and keep you moving like greased lightening. It’s a funny thing this fighting in the air. Before you actually start or see any of the Hun you’re as nervous and scared as hell but as soon as everything starts you’re too busy to be afraid or worried.

We’ve been up against raids of 300 to 60 or 150-200 to 12 but either we’ve killed all their real good pilots and they’re using new young ones or else they are losing their nerve. They ain’t got the same guts they used to have and except in a few cases try to avoid a real scrap. We’ve only got five of the original twenty-two pilots in the squadron left now and those of us who are left ain’t quite the same blokes as before. It’s peculiar but war seems to make you older and quieter and changes your views a lot in life.

I got over the 700 hour mark just a few days ago and I am still being offered a chance to return home as an instructor but the old reasons still keep me here and I suppose I shall remain here until the end or until the other end. I’ve got so used to the thrill and the, I don’t know how to express it, final feeling of victory that I’d feel lost and bored by a quiet life again.
Well, I really must go before I get sentimental or homesick. Write me soon and until then

Your friend,           Bill          

Born in Edmonton, 18 November 1918
Educated at University of Alberta.
Appointed Acting Pilot Officer on Probation, RAF, 15 April 1939

Killed in Action 12 January 1941

See H.A. Halliday, The Tumbling Sky and
No.242 Squadron: The Canadian Years.

McKNIGHT, P/O William Lidstone (41937) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.242 Squadron
Awarded as per London Gazette dated 14 June 1940

On the 28th May, this officer destroyed a Messerschmitt 109. On the following day, whilst on patrol with his squadron, he shot down three more enemy aircraft. The last one of the three enemy aircraft was destroyed after a long chase over enemy territory. On his return flight he used his remaining ammunition and caused many casualties in a low-flying atack on a railway along which the enemy was bringing up heavy guns. Pilot Officer McKnight has shown exxceptional courage and skill as a fighter pilot.

NOTE: Public Record Office Air 2/4095 has the original recommendation, apparently drafted by W/C R. Grice, Commanding Officer, RAF Station Biggin Hill, on 2 June 1940. The identity of several of his victims is confused; the victims of 1 June 1940 were more likely Ju.87s rather than Ju.88s.

Pilot Officer McKnight, a Canadian pilot, has shown exceptional skill and courage as a fighter pilot during the operations over France from 28th May to 1st June 1940.

On 28th May 1940, this officer destroyed one Messerschmitt 109 over Ostende.

On May 29th, whilst on patrol with his squadron over France, he shot down two Messerschmitt 109s and a Dornier 17. The Dornier 17 occasioned a long chase into enemy territory but the pilot with great tenacity and determination succeeded in destroying it. On the way back from this, the pilot used up the remainder of his ammunition by carrying out a low flying attack on a railway east of Dunkirk, along which the enemy were bringing up heavy guns, and caused many casualties.

On 31st May, this officer was again on patrol with his squadron and with great skill, whilst protecting the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk area, he shot down two Messerschmitt 110s.

On the afternoon of June 1st, he was again on patrol covering the evacuation of the Dunkirk beaches when his squadron encountered eighteen Junkers 88s about to attack our shipping and he succeeded in shooting down two Junkers 88s and two unconfirmed.

Between the 28th May and 1st June this officer has displayed great skill and courage and has destroyed two Messerschmitt 110s, three Messerschmitt 109s, one Dornier 17 and two Junkers 88s.

On 3 June 1940, Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park (Air Officer Commanding, No.11 Group) added the following minute:

This officer, a Canadian, has shown exceptional skill, determination and courage. He has destroyed eight enemy aircraft as well as attacking successfully heavy guns on the railway east of Dunkirk causing many casualties. I strongly recommend him for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The same day (3 June 1940) Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding minuted the document as "Approved".

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McKNIGHT, P/O William Lidstone (41937) - Bar to Distinguished Flying Cross - No.242 Squadron
Awarded as per London Gazette dated 8 October 1940

This officer has destroyed six enemy aircraft during the last thirteen weeks. He has proved himself to be a most efficient section leader, and has consistently given proof that he is a courageous and tenacious fighter.

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RECORD OF MAPLE LEAF FLYERS THROUGH 1940 MOST BRILLIANT
Figure in Every Important Aerial Operation With Distinction
ARE IN TWO DIVISIONS

(By Don Gilbert, Canadian Press Staff Writer. January 3, 1941)
In the battles of France and Britain, and in the historic week of Dunkerque, Canada's airmen carried on the traditions of the Canadian aces of 1914-18. In every major aerial operation of 1940, Canadian pilots, navigators, observers, gunners and bomb aimers were to the forefront, helping first to establish and then to maintain Britain's supremacy over the uncounted squadrons of the German air arm.

Along Two Lines
The hundreds of young men from the Dominion who had crossed to Britain in the years before the war, many at their own expense, to find adventure in the skies had ample scope for their mettle, the Canadian Press story of the year shows. Canada's participation in the air war was along two lines—first, by Canadians in the Royal Air Force, second, by the 1st Fighter Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force. In addition, two squadrons of army co-operation aircraft were with the Canadian Corps in Britain.

All Canadians
Of the Canadians in the R.A.F. the most widely known are the pilots of the so-called, All-Canadian Squadron, This group originally was made up entirely of Canadians, but, in weeks of heavy fighting in France and the Low Countries, and in the Dunkerque evacuation, it suffered heavy casualties and the gaps in many cases were filled by Britons. The squadron, however, maintains its Canadian name. Assigned to convoy protection work on its return from the Continent, the squadron early became prominent in the battle of Britain under Squadron-Ldr. Douglas Bader, an Englishman, who proved himself an indomitable air fighter despite the handicap of artificial legs, his own having been lost in an air crash before the war.
On August 30, in the space of one hour, 12 Hurricane fighters of the All-Canadian Squadron shot down 13 German bombers and fighters in a great air battle in which the Canadians were outnumbered six planes to one. While in France, the squadron was officially credited with 72 enemy planes and by the time Germans gave up their mass daylight attacks on Britain it had added well over 100 more.
Among the pilots in the squadron are Pilot Officer William McKnight, of Calgary, who bagged 17 Nazi planes and won the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar. Flight-Lieut. P. S. Turner, of Toronto, who shot down ten enemy machines at Dunkerque, and Pilot Officer N. K. Stansfeld, of Vancouver, who bagged seven.

McNab's Own
The First Squadron of the R.C.A.F. under Squadron-Ldr. Ernest McNab, of Regina, got into action with its Canadian-built Hurricanes in the battle of Britain on August 24. After a week of action McNab alone had bagged 12 enemy aircraft and after a month the squadron was able to celebrate its 50th air victory during a visit to its camp by Air Marshal W. A. Bishop, V.C., Canada’s great air fighter of the last war.
Two days after Air Marshal Bishop's visit the squadron shot down six more. The Canadians were honoured by an inspection by His Majesty the King. By November 5 the squadron's bag was up to 75 and the fine work of McNab won him a transfer to the R.A.F. with the rank of Acting Wing Commander, which means it is unlikely he will do much more combat flying.

Stayed With Machine
Canadians with the R.A.F. who distinguished themselves , included pilot Officer Clare Connor, of Toronto, who was awarded the D.F.C. for his work in a flight that brought his 18-year-old gunner, Sgt, John Hannah, of Glasgow, the Victoria Cross. While returning from a raid on Antwerp, fire broke out in the bomb compartment and ammunition began exploding as the flames spread and forced the remainder of the crew to bail out. But Hannah stayed to fight the blaze and eventually put it out, while Connor stuck determinedly at the controls. The gutted plane was landed safely at its home base. Connor was killed November 6 while on active service.
Flight-Lieut. William Campbell, of Revelstoke, B.C., destroyed two Italian submarines when Italy entered the war. Later he was forced down in Greece and Interned. He won his freedom when Italy invaded Greece. Flight-Lieut, Garfield Prior, 26-year-old pilot from Indian Head, Sask., took part in the first raids on Turin, center of Italian war industry.
Flying Officer Everett Badoux, of Stellarton, N.S., sank a German U-boat early in December and got back to his base, although one gasoline tank was empty and another leaking.

Army Co-operation
The 1st Army Co-operation Squadron of the RCAF, under Squadron-Ldr. W. D. Van Vliet, of Winnipeg, arrived at an R.A.F. station in southern England in February and was joined by the 2nd Squadron in May. R.C.A.F. headquarters in London were established under Group Capt. George Welsh, who later returned to Canada for promotion and was succeeded by Air Commodore L. F. Stevenson.
Some 55 Canadian officers received the Distinguished Flying Cross during the year and about 90 Canadians lost their lives. The first graduates of the Empire air training scheme from Canada, mostly air observers, arrived in Britain late in November. They were soon in action. Within 48 hours of debarkation, Pilot Officer Arthur Snell, of Calgary, helped bomb Boulogne. A second contingent, made up of crew men, observers and a small number of pilots, arrived in Britain early in December. And while these young Canadians fought the Empire's air battles, a veteran of the last war, Air Commodore Raymond Collishaw, of Nanaimo, B.C., directed Britain's air victory over the Italians in the western desert of Egypt during the December offensive.

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Led Canadians in Glorious Fights, Douglas Bader Now Posted Missing
Legless Hero Is One of Britain's Greatest Air Aces of Present War
IDOLIZED BY MEN

London, Aug 12, 1941- (CP) - Missing was the ominous word written tonight beside the illustrious name of Wing Commander Douglas S Bader early air stunter who gained most of his fame as the legless leader of the all Canadian squadron of the Royal Air Force now sheared by death or transfer of most of its Canadian identity
The brief word that Bader failed to reach home after one of his numerous sweeps over enemy territory was given out by his mother at the village rectory at Sprots-borough Yorkshire. Confirmation was made by the Air Ministry which at the same time announced a similar fate had befallen Flt.–Lt. E S Lock, 21 year-old holder of the DSO and the DFC and Bar, all awarded by the King at the same time.
Lock was called Sawn Off Lockie because he was so short. He was credited with shooting down thirty German planes nine of them in one week last September His plane was shot down in flames over Britain and he spent three months in a hospital with severe leg wounds a broken arm and burns. He underwent fifteen operations left hospital to be decorated at Buckingham Palace and then returned for a sixteenth trip to the operating table.

Both Often Decorated
Both Lock and Bader ranked high on the list of RAF greats. Lock as one of its most brilliant combatants and the 31-year old Bader as an organization leader. Although Bader s greatest quality was flying leadership he was credited officially with fifteen enemy planes
Like Lock, Bader was heavily decorated — the DSO and DFC and Bars to both. Only two other men in the flying service held all these medals
It was back on June 19 1940, that Bader, who was British born, took over the all-Canadian squadron which had been badly battered over Dunkirk and finally led it through some of the fiercest and numerically unequal battles ever seen in the air.
From these Bader, who resented being described as legless — he had artificial legs thanks — emerged with the DFC. It was men of his fighting caliber and the Canadians he led into battle against almost overwhelming odds that Prime Minister Churchill had in mind when he spoke of so much being owed by so many to so few. It was due to their work and men like them that the Germans chose to stay on their own side of the Channel during day light.

Delighted in Raids
That meant the RAF had to go after them. They did — day after day and week after week.
Back even in the sleety days of last winter, Bader took a boyish delight in scampering across the English Channel with a couple of his Canadian colleagues, harassing enemy troops and shooting up enemy fields.
Bader himself counted most of the German pilots yellow and openly said so. He treated the Germans in battle with contempt but his men swore by him.
An illustration of his spirit of team play and consideration for his men occurred one day when he and P0 L E. Cryderman of Toronto and FO N. D. Edmond of Calgary — both since listed as missing or killed — ran across a German bomber over the Channel. Bader, the leader, went after the big bomber, poured rounds of gun fire into it — then swerved aside to allow the two youngsters to finish it off
They shared in the destruction of the plane but only after a narrow, escape from bombs jettisoned by the harassed bomber

For a time Bader was an instructor but he put forth some persuasive argument and he was transferred as leader of another squadron He never did go back to No 242 but he left behind, in the officers mess and across the airfield, generally a fighting spirit that can never die. Associated with him as the inspiration for the squadron were men like PO William L. McKnight of Calgary who held the DFC and Bar and was in line for the DSO when he was reported missing. McKnight at one time was the top ranking fighter pilot in the RAF with at least twenty three German planes to his credit. On a sortie over France with Bader and others McKnight, who once brought down three German planes in one day, failed to return. He was strafing enemy troops from a particularly low height when he was last seen.

Bill McKnight

“Lots of Hurricanes"
Later Sclanders, appearing in the mess, apologized for apparently spoiling the days show.
Bader stopped sipping his cocoa looked at the boy's bruised eye and slapped him on the back saying “Hell, they’ve got lots of Hurricanes. We’ll get another one tomorrow but I doubt if that eye will clean up for a week or so."
The names of many young Canadians have since been added to the squadron’s roll of honor and in the officer’s mess there is to be seen only one of the original Canadian members — Flt. Lieut. R. D. Grassick, London, Ont., who has won one of the squadron’s eleven DFCs. Today most of the fliers are British.
Bader lost his legs in a flying accident before the war when he was regarded as one of the best stunt pilots in Britain. After many attempts he persuaded the RAF he could manipulate a plane with his artificial legs as well as most men without his handicap. His record showed he was right.

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Airmen Who Met Huns During Battle of Britain Paved Way For Offensive
Some of Canada's First Aces of This War Still Are in Action
— Pilots Now Seek Out Enemy Over His Own Territory

(Written for the Canadian Press by Flt.Lt. Basil Dean, R.C.A.F.)
Fighter Command, Somewhere in England, Sept. 8, 1943 — (CP) — There are still some of the few left, some of those hard-fighting combat pilots of Battle of Britain days, but mostly it is a new brood of pilots who fly from the air bases hereabouts in Britain's Fighter Command. Three years ago, when the first few of Canada's aerial aces were fighting their way to fame, the battles were over British soil. Now, with greater numbers of Canadians than ever before in Fighter Command, the pilots are going out to seek the enemy over his own territory. This air fighting of today is offensive, not defensive, as during the Battle of Britain, but it was the fighting then that made the current offensive possible.

Some Still Flying
Some of the Canadians who fought with honour and glory in those grim days three years ago are still flying. Wing-Cmdr. D. B. Russel, D.F.C., of Montreal, who now leads an R.C.A.F. Spitfire wing in Britain, was then P/O Dal Russel and a member of Canada's No. 1 Fighter Squadron, which arrived in England in June, 1940 — just in time to get trained for the fierce tests of August and September of that year.
Russel's old commanding officer, Ernie McNab, now is Group Capt. Ernest McNab, D.F.C., of Regina, commander of an R.C.A.F. fighter station.
In Sicily, Squadron-Ldr. Stanley Turner, D.F.C. and Bar, of Toronto, led the R.C.A.F.'s City of Windsor fighter squadron through the island campaign. In 1940, he was a flight commander in the R.A.F.’s famed "all-Canadian" squadron led by Wing-Cmdr. Douglas Bader, D.S.O., D.F.C., which destroyed 63 enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain and shared three with other squadrons.
The squadron was composed mainly of Canadians who had joined the R.A.F. before the war, and fought nobly during the Battle of France and over Dunkerque.

Most Efficient
Its achievements during the Battle of Britain, indeed, brought from the air officer commanding of the group in which it was serving at the time a message which said that its efficiency as a squadron was "equal, if not superior, to any squadron in the R.A.F." The British chief of air staff signaled: "You are well on top of the enemy and obviously the fine Canadian traditions of the last war are safe in your hands."
Greatest pilot of the "all-Canadian" squadron — apart from the legless commander, Bader (who was not Canadian) — was P/O W. L. McKnight, D.F.C. and bar, of Calgary, who was reported missing some months after the Battle of Britain ended. McKnight destroyed 16½ enemy aircraft, and was the first Canadian ace of the war.
The "all-Canadian" squadron's first Battle of Britain engagement was August 30, when Bader, now a prisoner of war, led a formation of 14 Hurricanes against a "vast number" of German aircraft, two swarms of 70 to 100 each. Detaching one section to investigate a third formation of aircraft some distance away, Bader led the rest of his pilots to the attack. As a result, 12 enemy aircraft were destroyed and not one of the Hurricanes had so much as a scratch.
Similar engagements followed. On September 7, Bader and his Canadians destroyed 10 enemy aircraft without losing a pilot, although seven of the squadron's Hurricanes were damaged. On September 19, when the wing in which the squadron was flying destroyed a total of 18 enemy aircraft, the "all-Canadians" were credited with 11 of these for the loss of one pilot killed.
And then, in the greatest day's fighting of all on September 15, the squadron destroyed 12 enemy aircraft. This was the day on which Bader described the fighting as "the finest shamble I've ever been in."
"The sky," he added, "was full of Hurricanes and Spitfires, queuing up and pushing each other out of the way to get at the Dormers. I was seldom able to hold my sights on a target for long for fear of colliding with other Spitfires and Hurricanes anxious to get in a burst."
Among the Canadians P/O. J. B. Latta, D.F.C., Victoria, B.C., had knocked down five enemy planes; F/L Turner had five; so had P/O N. K. Stansfeld, D.F.C., Vancouver. P/O H. N. Tamblyn, D.F.C., North Battleford, Sask., and P/O N. Hart had four each. Altogether Canadian pilots in the squadron had destroyed 45 of the total of 65 credited to the squadron. Bader had scored 11.
Canada's own No. 1 fighter squadron, which although its personnel have completely changed, is still flying in Britain with fighter command, had scored a total of 31 victories during the battle under McNab's leadership. McNab himself had scored the first victory to be credited to a member of the squadron when, in order to gain combat experience, he flew as a supernumerary officer with an R.A.F. squadron before No. 1 fighter was ready for front-line duties.
In the squadron's first engagement as a unit, on August 24, it destroyed three Dorniers for the loss of one pilot. By the end of its first week in action it had destroyed eight enemy aircraft for the loss of one pilot killed. The score continued to mount until September 27, when the Canadian squadron destroyed seven enemy aircraft out of about 70 engaged during the day; one pilot of the squadron was killed. In the day's first fight, Russel had destroyed an ME 109 and an ME 110 and had shared with a Polish pilot the destruction of a third enemy fighter.
McNab, F/L G. R. McGregor and Russel were each awarded the D.F.C., having destroyed between them, 11½ of the squadron's total. McNab and McGregor now are both group captains. Russel is a wing commander.
In other squadrons of the R.A.F., Canadians had also distinguished themselves. One of the flight commanders in the R.A.F. squadron was a Canadian, F/L. R. A. Barton, Kamloops, B.C., who later became squadron commander of his unit. He was awarded the D.F.C. for his "outstanding leadership" on September 27, a day on which the squadron destroyed 21 enemy aircraft for the loss of two pilots killed. The total bag during September was 48, a total exceeded only by the famous No. 303 Polish squadron, in which another Canadian, F/L (now Wing-Cmdr.) John Kent, Winnipeg, was at that time a flight commander.

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Beurling Ranks Fourth Among European Aces

By FRED BACKHOUSE
London, July 15, 1945 (CP) — Group Captain J. E. (Johnny) Johnson, English-born, former leader of a crack Canadian Spitfire wing, has been officially recognized as "ace of aces" among Allied fighter pilots who fought over Europe.
Final scoring records, compiled by The Canadian Press from figures supplied by the RAF, RCAF, and United States 8th and 9th Air Forces, put this peace-time accountant from the Leicestershire town of Loughborough at the top of the list with 38 German planes destroyed.
Group Capt. Johnson, who so closely identified himself with his otherwise all-Canadian squadron that he wore "Canada" on his shoulder, has often given much of the credit for his success to the Canadians who flew with him. "It's all a combination play" he said. Many of his men themselves became "aces."
Of the first 16 places supplied by the air forces, fourth is held by a Canadian — Flt. Lt. George (Buzz) Beurling, DSO, DFC, DFM and Bar, of Verdun, Que. — and 11 by RAF pilots. For the record, only those with more than 24 "kills" were offered by the three services as their top men.
Official final scores are:
Group Capt. J. E. Johnson (RAF), 38
Group Capt. A. G. Malan (RAF) [no score given –ed]
Sqdn. Ldr. P. Finucane (RAF), 32
Flt. Lt. G. Beurling (RCAF), 31
Wing Cmdr. Stanford Tuck (RAF), 30
Wing Cmdr. J. R. D. Braham (RAF), 29
an anonymous Polish sergeant (RAF), 28 [Czech pilot Josef Frantisek -ed]
Wing Cmdr. F. R. Carey (RAF), 28
Lt. Col. F. G. Gabreski (U.S. 8th), 28
Maj. G. E. Preddy (U.S. 8th) [no score given –ed]
Wing Cmdr. C. Caldwell (RAF), 27½
Capt. R. Johnson (U.S. 8th) [no score given –ed]
Flt. Lt. Mungo Park (RAF) [no score given –ed]
Sqdn. Ldr. J. H. Lacey (RAF), 27
Flt. Lt. E. S. Lock (RAF), 25
Lt.-Col. J. C. Meyer (U.S. 8th), 24½
[some of these numbers have been modified since the war – ed]
RCAF fighter pilots in the European war with scores of 15 or more German planes destroyed number six according to overseas headquarters in London. In addition, there were two equally high-scoring Canadians in the RAF, both of whom were killed in that service before they could transfer to the RCAF.
After Beurling they are:
Sqdn. Ldr. H. W. McLeod, DSO, DFC and Bar, of Regina, 22
Flt. Lt. J. T. Caine, DFC, and Bar, of Toronto, 20
Wing Cmdr. Mark H. Brown, DFC and Bar (RAF), of Glenboro, Man., 18
FO. W. L. McKnight, DF.C. and Bar (RAF), of Calgary, 16½
Wing Cmdr. R. W. McNair, DSO, DFC & two bars, of North Battleford, 16
Wing Cmdr. L. V. Chadburn, DSO and Bar, DFC, of Aurora, Ont., 15
Flt. Lt. Don C. Laubman, DFC and Bar, of Edmonton, 15
The late Wing-Cmdr. Brown is officially credited by the RAF with "at least 18" aircraft destroyed. His score may well have been higher, but uncertainty exists because the records of No. 1 Squadron, RAF, of which he was then commanding officer, were destroyed during the retreat at the time of the collapse of France.

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