John Lightfoot Trollope, a British air ace of the Great War, was born on 30 May 1897 in Wallington, Surrey.
Trollope was attending college when the war broke out, but he managed to enlist at the beginning of 1915, still before his eighteenth birthday.
Jonh Trollope’s military career began with the Royal Engineers Signal Service in France, where he served as a dispatch rider. He was later promoted to corporal in the Royal Engineers, before being commissioned as a second lieutenant and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916.
In September 1916, after completing his flying training, Trollope was assigned to No. 70 Squadron. There, he flew reconnaissance missions with the Sopwith 1½ Strutter. In early 1917, he returned to England and served as a flying instructor until the end of July, when he was promoted to captain and returned to France. This time Trollope was assigned to No. 43 Squadron, which was equipped with Sopwith Camels and flew close air support missions.
His first aerial victory was recorded only in the last year of the war, on 19 January 1918, when he shot down a DFW two-seater. However, by the beginning of March Trollope had shot down three more DFW aircraft and then, on 11 March 1918, an Albatros fighter. The latter was his fifth victory and made Trollope an ace. Within a few days he increased his score with another two Albatros fighters and a DFW.
On 24 March 1918, John Trollope flew two combat sorties, both with Sopwith Camel C8270. During the first one, he shot down two DFWs and one Albatros. In the afternoon, during his second sortie of the day, Trollope intercepted another three enemy two-seaters and shot them down. On his way back to base, he spotted another two-seat aeroplane and added it to his victory score, achieving a total of seven enemy aircraft destroyed in a single day.
Only four days later, Trollope added another three victories to his tally – an observation balloon and two enemy aeroplanes. Regrettably, during the latter dogfight he was shot down by Lt. Paul Billik of Jasta 52.
John Trollope survived the encounter but was captured by the Germans. He was seriously injured and initially had his left hand and wrist amputated. Later, his arm was amputated at the shoulder. Shortly afterwards, Trollope was repatriated to England.
John Lightfoot Trollope died in 1958 at the age of sixty-one.
Cover photo: Sopwith Camel F.1 (illustrative photo), © IWM Q 63822, used under Non-Commercial licence.
