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Full Description
D'Urban Victor Armstrong was born on 26 July 1897 in Natal, South Africa. Having initially enlisted in the South African Defence Force on the outbreak of war in 1914, he soon sought a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps. He was awarded his flying licence on 12 February 1916, marking the start of what was a remarkable wartime career as a fighter pilot.
Such was the skill Armstrong displayed when in the air, he was famed among his British, French and American contemporaries as the best Camel pilot of the war, bar none. His aerobatic performances were in demand to entertain visiting senior officers, politicians and dignitaries. He even once outfought Ren Fonck in a mock dogfight.
In 1917, Armstrong helped to pioneer home defence tactics used by the RFC against the onslaught of enemy bombers which had started to operate over the South-East and London. In 1918 he was at the leading edge of the dangerous new art of offensive night fighting, flying intruder missions and intercepting German night-bombers in support of ground troops on the Western Front.
Despite his obvious skill, he crashed during one of his aerobatic displays in France on 8 October 1918\. He succumbed to his injurious on 14 November, three days after the fighting on the Western Front had ended. He died unaware that he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the citation of which described his as a brilliant pilot of exceptional skill'. The official history of one the squadrons he served in, No.60 Squadron, noted that he was perhaps the finest pilot the Flying Corps ever produced'.
Armstrong was never forgotten by anyone who saw his incredible low-level air displays. During the inter-war years he would be spoken of with awe in aviation magazines, and his aerial exploits described with wonder - all of which is revealed in this graphic biography of a remarkable Great War airman.
