World War I United States Flying Ace. A descendent of Revolutionary War hero Israel Putnam, he was born at Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, and dropped out of Harvard University during World War I to join the French Air Service after hitchhiking overseas on a cattle boat. After serving with the French, which included a single-handed engagement with ten German aircraft in which he downed five of the ten, Putnam was commissioned into the American Air Service in June 1918. He was America's "Ace of Aces," having 13 confirmed kills of enemy aircraft. He was acting commander of the 139th Aero Squadron when he was killed while engaging eight German aircraft that were attacking a lone American observation plane. The squadron insignia from the SPAD XIII he was flying, as well as the wristwatch he was wearing at the time he was shot down and killed, are on display at the US Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
World War I United States Flying Ace. A descendent of Revolutionary War hero Israel Putnam, he was born at Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, and dropped out of Harvard University during World War I to join the French Air Service after hitchhiking overseas on a cattle boat. After serving with the French, which included a single-handed engagement with ten German aircraft in which he downed five of the ten, Putnam was commissioned into the American Air Service in June 1918. He was America's "Ace of Aces," having 13 confirmed kills of enemy aircraft. He was acting commander of the 139th Aero Squadron when he was killed while engaging eight German aircraft that were attacking a lone American observation plane. The squadron insignia from the SPAD XIII he was flying, as well as the wristwatch he was wearing at the time he was shot down and killed, are on display at the US Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
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