Mansell Richard James

Captain Mansell Richard James was a Canadian-born World War I flying ace credited with 11 confirmed aerial victories. He disappeared in spectacular fashion after setting a postwar aviation record for prize money, and was the object of repeated searches throughout the years.

World War I
James was from Watford, Ontario, and enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps on 22 September 1917. After completion of training, he was posted to 45 Squadron in Italy on 12 February 1918 as a Sopwith Camel pilot. On 3 June 1918, he scored his first aerial triumph, destroying an enemy Albatros D.V over Feltre. Four days later, he destroyed two Albatros D.IIIs, one over San Marino and the other over Colicella. His next two victories over Albatros D.Vs that he destroyed east of Feltre on 20 July made him an ace.

On 5 August 1918, he destroyed the only reconnaissance plane of his career, an AEG. The next day, he sent down two Albatros D.Vs over Segusino and destroyed a third. On the last day of August, he rounded out his victory string by destroying two Albatros D.Vs near Arsiero.

On 23 September 1918, Lieutenant James was promoted to temporary captain. He also won a Distinguished Flying Cross, with the following citation:

Post World War I
On 6 May 1919, James surrendered his commission in the Royal Air Force upon becoming unemployed. He shipped out to the United States. On 28 May 1919 James flew what was reputedly the first Sopwith Camel in the United States from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Boston, Massachusetts. He was competing for a $1,000 prize offered by the Boston Globe for fastest flight between the two cities. At 115 miles per hour despite headwinds, he was much faster than a prior competitor's 90 mph gait. After landing at a field eight miles north of Boston, James departed again at 6 PM, supposedly for a stop at Mitchel Field on Long Island en route to Atlantic City, both of which are southwest of Boston. He buzzed and frightened spectators watching his takeoff.

It was Captain James' intent to follow railroad tracks from Boston on his return flight. He apparently guided on the wrong set of railroad tracks, as he later landed at Tyringham, Massachusetts, (near Lee), about 100 air miles west of Boston, to have his plane serviced. On 29 May, he was reportedly seen at 1130 AM at an altitude of about 5,000 feet over Connecticut after departing Lee, Massachusetts; he apparently had a sound engine at that sighting and was headed southeast.

A more reliable report tells a somewhat different story. On the morning of 2 June 1919, he took off from Tyringham toward the south, then turned west, away from Boston. He drew a crowd of spectators for his departure because the local populace was unused to airplanes. Because of his direction of flight, they thought he might be returning to the field he departed, but he did not reappear.

On 5 August 1919, a berry picker in a ravine on Mount Riga outside Millerton, New York found airplane wreckage. It was speculated to be James' plane.

Years later, on 17 December 1925 near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, several search parties went into woods trying to relocate plane wreckage discovered by a lost hunter from Brooklyn several days previously. They were spurred by a reward offer of $500 posted by James's uncle six years previously.

On 19 May 1927, U. S. Coast Guard Boat 290 found an airplane wing floating in Fort Pond Bay, Long Island Sound. Captain James's brother, E. D. James, wrote a letter requesting a description of the wing, hoping to identify it.

Despite extensive searches for him spurred partially by rewards offered, no sign of James has ever been found.