Stephen W. Thompson

Stephen W. Thompson
Stephen Thompson in the uniform he was wearing on February 5, 1918. Note the French Croix de guerre with Palm.
Born	(1894-03-20)March 20, 1894 West Plains, Missouri, United States
Died	October 9, 1977(1977-10-09) (aged 83) Dayton, Ohio, United States
Allegiance	United States Army Air Service
Service/branch	United States 1st Aero Squadron
Years of service	1917–1918
Awards	Croix de guerre with Palm Purple Heart
Relations	Wife: Dorothy Mary (Wright) Thompson (Born: August 25, 1896 – Died: October 1971) Children: Dr. Stephen Wright Thompson (Born: September 24, 1926), Dr. Robert James Thompson (Born: September 21, 1930), Mary Catherine (Thompson) Muller (Born: August 17, 1931)

Wife: Dorothy Mary (Wright) Thompson (Born: August 25, 1896 – Died: October 1971)

Children: Dr. Stephen Wright Thompson (Born: September 24, 1926),

Dr. Robert James Thompson (Born: September 21, 1930),

Stephen W. Thompson (March 20, 1894 – October 9, 1977) was an American aviator of World War I. Flying as a gunner on a French aircraft in February 1918, he became the first member of the United States military to shoot down an enemy aircraft. Kiffin Rockwell achieved an earlier aerial victory as an American volunteer member of the French Lafayette Escadrille in 1916.

Thompson was born in West Plains, Missouri. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, he was a senior in electrical engineering at the University of Missouri. The school announced that seniors who joined the military before graduation would receive their diplomas in June. So he enlisted in the Army and, after basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, in June he was sent to Fort Monroe, Virginia for training in the Coast Artillery Corps. On the train coming into Norfolk he saw an airplane in the sky — the first he had ever seen.

When he got the opportunity, he went to the flying field, the Curtis School at Newport News, and asked if he could take a ride. Thomas Scott Baldwin, who had been a famous performer in his own balloons and dirigibles, was in charge and said yes. The plane was a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny and the pilot was Edward Stinson, a prominent flyer at the time who later founded the Stinson Aircraft Company. Stinson did a number of aerobatic maneuvers, including looping the loop five times in a row. Thompson said that the only thing that kept him from falling out of the plane at the top of the last loop was the lap belt. By the time he landed, he had decided to apply for duty in the Air Service.