Ronald Malcolm Fletcher

Ronald Malcolm Fletcher DFM (22 February 1899 – 20 January 1952) was an English World War I observer/gunner ace in two-seater fighters who, in conjunction with his pilot, Lt. S.F.H. Thompson, gained 26 confirmed victories (16 destroyed, 10 'out of control'). He was notable for the fact that all but one of these victories were over enemy fighter planes.

Aerial Service
Attached to the Royal Flying Corps from the 30th Training Reserve Battalion in November 1917, Fletcher was teamed with pilot Samuel Frederick Henry Thompson in May 1918. Thompson already had scored three victories. The team of Sergeant Fletcher and Lieutenant Thompson was to become a deadly one; Fletcher scored all but one of his 26 victories flying in the rear seat of Bristol F.2bs flown by Thompson. In turn, Thompson would become the leading ace of 22 Squadron with 30 victories.

The new team got off to immediate success; on 16 May 1918, they destroyed three German Pfalz D.III fighters in ten minutes. Five days later, they destroyed another Pfalz and drove one down out of control, and Fletcher was an ace. Fletcher got two more wins in May, over German Albatros D.Vs. June then became a succession of multiple victory days—two each on the 1st and 2nd, three on the 5th, and two more on the 23rd, to end the month with a count of 16 wins.

There was a lapse in his tally until 8 August, when he shot down a Fokker Dr.I. He then tripled on the 13th and doubled on the 27th. His final four victories came in September, including yet another double on the 5th.

The final list of 26 victories with Thompson over German fighters was an impressive one. Three were shot down in flames—an Albatros D.V, a Pfalz D.III, and a Fokker D.VII. Thirteen others were claimed destroyed 13–four Pfalz D.IIIs, five Albatros D.Vs, two Fokker Dr.Is, and two Fokker D.VIIs. All other victories were classified as "driven down out of control".

The Thompson/Fletcher team thus destroyed the equivalent of more than an entire German fighter squadron. Research suggests Thompson claimed at least 18 of their 26 victories with his front gun, and Fletcher's personal score (taking into account claims with other pilots) was at least 11.

Fletcher became a flight cadet and was commissioned in October 1918. He was belatedly awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal on 2 November 1918; the medal's citation still referred to him as a sergeant. The citation also noted Fletcher had seven solo kills since 21 May 1918. He left the military on 28 February 1919.

Post World War I
Fletcher married Elsie Annie Newborn on 23 April 1924 in the Wesleyan Methodist church in Priory Place, Doncaster, England. He returned to the Royal Air Force in March 1941 on a wartime commission in the RAF Volunteer Reserve, and served in the Air Training Corps. Fletcher died in Dore, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England on 20 January 1952.