Keith Muspratt

Captain Keith Knox Muspratt (22 December 1897 – 16 March 1918) was an English First World War flying ace in the Royal Flying Corps with eight victories to his name.

Biography Early life and background Keith Muspratt was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, the youngest of three sons of Charles Drummond Muspratt, MD (1859–1927), a surgeon, and his wife Mabel, the daughter of the Right Honourable Sir H. Knox. His older brother Captain Terence Petty Muspratt, MC, of the Worcestershire Regiment, was killed in action on 29 May 1918, aged 22, and is buried at Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France.

Muspratt was educated at Wychwood School in Bournemouth, and in 1911, aged 14, was sent to Sherborne School, Dorset. There he was a school prefect, played football for his house, and was commissioned as a cadet officer in the Junior Division of the Officers' Training Corps. Muspratt began to learn to fly while still at school, mainly during the holidays, attending the Ruffy-Baumann School of Flying at Hendon Aerodrome from mid-1915. He was awarded his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate (No. 2789) on 27 April 1916. On 2 November he was appointed a flying officer.

Muspratt first served as a flying instructor and in a testing squadron,

Muspratt was awarded the Military Cross on 18 October 1917, and destroyed two more German aircraft by the end of the month. After his final victory, he was withdrawn from battle and assigned to Home Establishment to serve as a test pilot at Martlesham Heath. and appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain on 11 February. He was killed in a flying accident in Suffolk on 16 March 1918,