Name John Cowell Allegiance United Kingdom Role RAF airman | Died July 30, 1918 Rank Sergeant | |
Awards Distinguished Conduct Medal, Military Medal with Bar Unit Royal Engineers, No. 20 Squadron RAF | ||
Longuenesse (St. Omer) Souvenir Cemetery Pas de Calais, France Service/branch Engineers; aviation | ||
Sergeant John J. Cowell, (1889 – 30 July 1918) was an Irish World War I flying ace credited with sixteen aerial victories; fifteen of these gained as an observer/gunner, and one as a pilot, before he was killed in action.
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Early life and background
Cowell was born in Limerick, one of ten children of Michael and Kate Cowell.
World War I
He first served in the 12th Field Company of the Royal Engineers, where on 27 October 1916 Sapper (Acting Corporal) Cowell was awarded his first Military Medal.
He then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, joining No. 20 Squadron as an observer/gunner during Bloody April 1917. He manned the rear guns of a F.E.2d fighter for such other aces as Richard M. Trevethan, Cecil Roy Richards, Reginald Condon, and Oliver Vickers. Between 5 May and 28 July 1917, Cowell gained fifteen victories, destroying a German two-seater reconnaissance aircraft and five German fighters, and driving down nine more German fighters out of control. He was promoted to sergeant, and also awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, which was gazetted on 17 July 1917. His citation read:
78171 Sergeant J. Cowell, RFC.On 14 September 1917 he received a bar to his Military Medal. Cowell then returned to the Home Establishment for flight training, rejoining No. 20 Squadron as a pilot in mid-1918.
On 29 July 1918, while flying a Bristol F.2b Cowell drove down a Fokker D.VII, his last, and only aerial victory as a pilot. He was killed in action the following day, shot down by Friedrich Ritter von Röth of Jasta 16. Cowell is buried in Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery, Saint-Omer, France.