Captain J.T.B. McCudden at the height of his fighting powers. He received the VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Two Bars, MM and CdG, becoming one of the top-scoring aces of the RAF/RFC. His untimely death in a flying accident on 9 July 1918 robbed the RAF of an outstanding airman. Had von Richthofen shot him down on 27 December, the name of James McCudden would have passed into obscurity.