Who did the Red Baron call as ‘By far the best English flying man’?

Albert Ball, born on 14th August 1896, was a British fighter ace during World War I who achieved 44 victories in air combat.

Ball joined the Sherwood Foresters at the outbreak of the First World War and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1914. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) the following year, and gained his pilot's wings on 26th January 1916. He flew reconnaissance missions before being posted in May to No. 11 Squadron, a fighter unit. From then until his return to England on leave in October, he accrued many aerial victories, earning two Distinguished Service Orders and the Military Cross. He was the first ace to become a British national hero.

Despite his skill and daring, Albert Ball crashed to his death in a field in France on 7th May 1917, shot down possibly from the ground. Ball was last seen by fellow pilots pursuing the Red Baron's younger brother, Lothar von Richthofen, who eventually landed near Annœullin with a punctured fuel tank. Cyril Crowe observed Ball flying into a dark thundercloud. A German pilot officer on the ground, Lieutenant Hailer, then saw Ball's plane falling upside-down from the bottom of the cloud, at an altitude of 200 feet (61 m), with a dead prop.

After his death, Ball was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during his final tour of duty. The famous German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron), remarked upon hearing of Ball's death that he was ‘by far the best English flying man’.