Ernest Elton

Ernest John Elton, (25 December 1893 – 8 March 1958) was the highest scoring British non-commissioned flying ace during the First World War. He was credited with 17 aerial victories.

Early life He was born in Wimborne Workhouse, the son of Edith Jane Frampton, an unmarried domestic servant from Mannington, and was fostered by local midwife Hannah Elton and her husband Henry, subsequently adopting their surname as his own. As a boy he sang in the choir of Wimborne Minster, and after leaving school was apprenticed at a local Cycle and Carriage Works.

Military service Elton enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps on 11 August 1914, serving as an air mechanic. His string culminated in a triple victory on 29 March 1918, when he destroyed three German two-seater reconnaissance planes in ten minutes. They were the only two-seaters he ever destroyed; the remainder of his wins were over enemy fighters, principally Albatros D.Vs. and in June was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, his citation reading:

In September 1918 he was awarded the Bronze Medal of Military Valour by Italy.

Elton was discharged from the Royal Air Force in 1922.