{"id":2422208,"date":"2026-06-22T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=2422208"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:29:16","slug":"robert-little-australias-greatest-wwi-ace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/robert-little-australias-greatest-wwi-ace\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Forgotten 47-Kill Ace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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You will almost never hear the name of the deadliest pilot the Southern Hemisphere ever produced \u2014 a Melbourne boy who shot down forty-seven aircraft before his twenty-third birthday and was dead before the war he dominated had ended.<\/p>\r\n<p>His name was Robert Little, and he is, by the official count, the greatest fighter ace Australia has ever produced. Hardly anyone has heard of him. That is worth fixing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f2f4f7; border-radius: 8px; padding: 18px 22px; margin: 24px 0;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 10px; font-weight: bold; color: #333; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: .3px;\">QUICK FACTS<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 5px 0; font-size: 15px;\"><strong style=\"color: #5c91ff;\">Pilot:<\/strong> Captain Robert Alexander Little, DSO &amp; Bar, DSC &amp; Bar<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 5px 0; font-size: 15px;\"><strong style=\"color: #5c91ff;\">Born:<\/strong> Melbourne, 1895<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 5px 0; font-size: 15px;\"><strong style=\"color: #5c91ff;\">Service:<\/strong> Royal Naval Air Service<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 5px 0; font-size: 15px;\"><strong style=\"color: #5c91ff;\">Victories:<\/strong> 47 \u2014 Australia\u2019s highest-scoring ace<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 5px 0; font-size: 15px;\"><strong style=\"color: #5c91ff;\">Aircraft:<\/strong> Sopwith Pup (4), Triplane (24), Camel (19)<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 5px 0; font-size: 15px;\"><strong style=\"color: #5c91ff;\">Killed:<\/strong> Night of 27 May 1918, aged 22<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">He paid his own way into the war<\/h2>\r\n<p>Little wanted to fly, and in 1914 there was no easy path for an Australian to do it. So he simply went. He sailed to England, paid for his own flying lessons out of his own pocket, earned his certificate, and presented himself to the Royal Naval Air Service. It is hard to overstate how unusual that was \u2014 a young man buying his way to the front line of a brand-new kind of warfare because no one would send him.<\/p>\r\n<p>By June 1916 he was in France. Before long he was the terror of his squadron \u2014 not a stylist, not a showman, but a relentless, aggressive hunter who closed to point-blank range and rarely missed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rf3R9vdXYio\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The Sopwith Triplane in the video above is an airworthy survivor of the type that made Little famous \u2014 three wings, astonishing climb, and a turn that left German pilots bewildered.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">\u201cBlymp\u201d and the triplane summer<\/h2>\r\n<p>When his squadron converted to the Sopwith Triplane in 1917, Little began to score in bursts. He claimed twenty-four victories in the type \u2014 most of them in a single aircraft, serial N5493, which he affectionately christened \u201cBlymp.\u201d He twice scored two kills in a day. The Triplane\u2019s extraordinary rate of climb suited his style perfectly: get above, dive, strike, climb away.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"display: block; width: 100%!important; max-width: 100%!important; height: auto!important; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/sopwith-triplane-blymp-n5493-robert-little.png\" alt=\"Robert Little\u2019s Sopwith Triplane N5493 \u201cBlymp\u201d\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">Little scored most of his Triplane victories in one airframe, N5493, which he christened \u201cBlymp.\u201d Illustration: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>When the Triplane gave way to the Sopwith Camel \u2014 the war\u2019s most famous and most lethal British fighter, in equal measure \u2014 Little simply carried on, adding nineteen more. He flew with a ferocity that bordered on the reckless, and the victories kept mounting: forty-seven in all, a total that placed him at the very top of the Australian list and among the finest aces of any nation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"display: block; width: 100%!important; max-width: 100%!important; height: auto!important; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/sopwith-camel-wwi.png\" alt=\"Sopwith Camel\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">The Sopwith Camel, on which Little scored his final 19 victories \u2014 a deadly fighter to the enemy and, often, to its own pilots. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">A night, a searchlight, and a Gotha<\/h2>\r\n<p>On the night of 27 May 1918, German Gotha bombers droned over France, and Little went up alone to find one in the dark \u2014 a genuinely dangerous business in an era before reliable night fighting. He was caught by enemy fire, wounded, and brought his aircraft down. He died of his wounds before help reached him. He was twenty-two years old.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"display: block; width: 100%!important; max-width: 100%!important; height: auto!important; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/robert-little-australian-ace.jpg\" alt=\"Captain Robert A. Little\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">Captain Robert A. Little \u2014 Australia\u2019s greatest fighter ace, killed at 22. Photo: Australian War Memorial \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>Little is a reminder that the air war of 1914\u201318 was not won only by the famous names painted onto the side of history. It was fought, and often won, by young men who paid their own way into the sky, flew themselves to exhaustion, and vanished before the world had time to learn who they were. Forty-seven victories. Twenty-two years. It deserves to be remembered.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #888; font-style: italic; margin-top: 28px;\">Sources: Vintage Aviation News; The Western Front Association; Australian War Memorial; History of War; Wikipedia<\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\r\n<!-- mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-block\"><style>.mf-faq-block{margin:34px 0}.mf-faq-item:not([open]) .mf-faq-answer{display:none !important}.mf-faq-block h2.mf-faq-h{padding-top:22px;margin-bottom:14px}.mf-faq-item{border:1px solid #e2e8f5;border-radius:8px;margin:0 0 10px;background:#fff}.mf-faq-item summary{list-style:none;cursor:pointer;padding:15px 50px 15px 18px;font-weight:600;color:#1a1a1a;position:relative;line-height:1.45;user-select:none}.mf-faq-item summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mf-faq-item summary::after{content:\"+\";position:absolute;right:18px;top:50%;transform:translateY(-50%);font-size:1.5em;font-weight:400;color:#5C91FF;line-height:1}.mf-faq-item[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mf-faq-item[open] summary{border-bottom:1px solid #eef1f8}.mf-faq-item summary:hover{background:#f5f8ff}.mf-faq-answer{padding:14px 18px;color:#333;line-height:1.6}.mf-faq-answer p{margin:0}<\/style>\r\n<h2 class=\"mf-faq-h\">Related Questions<\/h2>\r\n<details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Who was Australia's greatest fighter ace?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Captain Robert Alexander Little was Australia's highest-scoring fighter ace, credited with 47 aerial victories in World War I. Flying with Britain's Royal Naval Air Service, he became one of the deadliest pilots of the war before being killed in action in 1918 at just 22.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>How many kills did Robert Little have?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Robert Little was credited with 47 victories, making him Australia's top-scoring ace of World War I. He scored them flying three Sopwith types: 4 in the Pup, 24 in the Triplane and 19 in the Camel.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What aircraft did Robert Little fly?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>He flew Sopwith fighters with the Royal Naval Air Service \u2014 claiming 4 victories in the Sopwith Pup, 24 in the Sopwith Triplane and 19 in the Sopwith Camel, for a total of 47.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>How did Robert Little become a pilot?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>With no easy path for an Australian to fly in 1914, Little sailed to England and paid for his own flying lessons out of his own pocket, then joined the Royal Naval Air Service. His determination launched one of WWI's most successful combat careers.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>How did Robert Little die?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>He was killed on the night of 27 May 1918, aged 22, during a night interception over the Western Front \u2014 Australia's greatest ace lost after fewer than four years of flying that began with lessons he paid for himself.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><\/div>\r\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who was Australia's greatest fighter ace?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Captain Robert Alexander Little was Australia's highest-scoring fighter ace, credited with 47 aerial victories in World War I. 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His determination launched one of WWI's most successful combat careers.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did Robert Little die?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"He was killed on the night of 27 May 1918, aged 22, during a night interception over the Western Front \u2014 Australia's greatest ace lost after fewer than four years of flying that began with lessons he paid for himself.\"}}]}<\/script><!-- \/mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f0f4ff; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 16px 20px; margin: 32px 0 8px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; font-weight: 600; color: #333;\">Related Posts<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 4px 0;\">The Falcon of Malta: 27 Kills in Two Weeks<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin: 4px 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/ilmari-juutilainen-finlands-94-victory-ace-who-was-never-shot-down\/\">Ilmari Juutilainen: Finland\u2019s 94-Victory Ace Who Was Never Shot Down<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this story Ask anyone to name a First World War fighter ace and you\u2019ll hear the same handful of names: the Red Baron, perhaps Billy Bishop, maybe Albert Ball. You will almost never hear the name of the deadliest pilot the Southern Hemisphere ever produced \u2014 a Melbourne boy who shot down forty-seven aircraft [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":2422119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2422208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Robert Little: Australia&#039;s Forgotten 47-Kill Ace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Little shot down 47 aircraft before turning 23 \u2014 Australia&#039;s greatest fighter ace of the First World War, and almost nobody knows him.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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