Nickname(s) The Mad Major Died 2 July 1918 Years of service ca 1915–1918 | Name Joseph Callaghan Allegiance United Kingdom | |
Contay British Cemetery Contay, France Service/branch Infantry; aviation | ||
Major Joseph Cruess Callaghan (4 March 1893 – 2 July 1918) was an Irish World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories.
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Early life and background
Callaghan was the eldest son of Joseph Patrick and Croasdella Cruess-Callaghan of Blackrock, Dublin. He was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, and at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, England.
World War I
Callaghan was living in Texas when World War I began; he returned home to be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 7th (Service) Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers in January 1915. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on 1 September 1915, and trained as a pilot, being granted Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificate No. 1829 on 4 October 1915, after soloing a Maurice Farman biplane at the Military School, Norwich, and was appointed a flying officer on 25 January 1916.
Callaghan was assigned to No. 18 Squadron RFC in April 1916; and promptly piloted an F.E.2b to victory on 26 April, getting credit for destroying a Fokker Eindekker (though the Germans recorded no casualties). He crash-landed near Château de la Haie because of damaged controls, to discover his observer dead, shot through the head. He was wounded in action on 31 July 1916.
Callaghan was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain, and 4 November 1916 was transferred to the Regular Army. From January 1917 he served as Commandant of No. 2 Auxiliary School of Aerial Gunnery, Turnberry, with the temporary rank of major (graded as a squadron commander), where his aerial stunts earned him the nickname "The Mad Major."
For his service in France Callaghan was awarded the Military Cross, which was gazetted on 13 February 1917. His citation read:
Second Lieutenant (temporary Captain) Joseph Cruess Callaghan, Royal Munster Fusiliers and Royal Flying Corps.In April 1918, he returned to combat as commanding officer of No. 87 Squadron RAF, flying the Sopwith Dolphin, and gained four more aerial victories between 29 May and 28 June to become an ace.
On 2 July 1918, Callaghan single-handedly attacked a group of as many as 25 German fighters. He was killed when his Dolphin was shot down in flames by Leutnant Franz Büchner of Jasta 13. He is buried in the Contay British Cemetery, Contay, France.
Two of his younger brothers also died during the war. Captain Stanislaus Cruess Callaghan was killed in a flying accident while serving in RFC Canada on 27 June 1917, while Second Lieutenant Owen (or Eugene) Cruess Callaghan was killed in action on 26 August 1916 while serving in No. 19 Squadron RFC in France.