Spinning crazily, the S.E.5a fell from the sky, followed closely by a German Pfalz. At 5,000 feet, the German flattened out to watch the crash. Instead, the S.E.5a pulled out and headed for home. The flight commander—Edward (Mick) Mannock—had just saved the skin of one of his pilots by drawing the enemy onto himself.

An Irishman who had been born on the wrong side of the tracks, Mannock joined the British army before the war. Despite a bad left eye and the handicap of age—Mannock was an old man of 30—he was accepted by the RFC in early 1917. He was neither a natural flyer nor a good shot. It was two months before Mannock downed his first German. But during the later part of 1917, Mannock was averaging a victory a day in his S.E.5. Before the year ended, he had 56 confirmed kills.

Mannock, who ultimately became the No. 1 air fighter of the Royal Flying Corps, scored the majority of his 73 victories in an S.E.5 or S.E. 5a, the mainstays of the RFC's high-altitude air defense. This British-built biplane was famous for its dive-and-zoom maneuvers. Originally powered by a 150-hp Hispano-Suiza engine, its maximum speed was 119 mph at 6,500 feet.

Late in June 1918, while following an enemy plane to confirm the kill, Mannock flew too low and was hit by a German infantryman's bullet. Shortly afterward, his father accepted Mick Mannock's Victoria Cross from the hand of the King of England.