Captain Albert Ball was born in Nottingham in 1896 and died barely two decades later after a terrifying dice with Baron Manfred von Richthofen's "Flying Circus". He took off on his last mission on 6 May 1917. He and his fellow pilots were intercepted above the trenches of Cambrai and Douai by Richthofen's planes and following a fierce dogfight that saw several aircraft from both sides shot down, Albert Ball was last seen chasing a German plane into a bank of cloud. Moments later he crashed into a cornfield near Annoeullin after a spectacular death dive that experts have never fully explained. He died the next day and was buried by the Germans with full military honours.

His war cemetery grave is still tended by relatives of Cecille Deloffre, who found him after his final flight. The field where he crashed was bought by his father, Sir Albert Ball, a former Lord Mayor of Nottingham. Now the Albert Ball School is expected to open on Armistice Day in front of a specially invited audience of family and dignitaries from his home city.

[ London Gazette, 8 June 1917 ]. Missions over France, 25 April to 6 May 1917, T / Captain Albert Ball, 7th Bn, Sherwood Foresters & Royal Flying Corps.

He took part in 26 combats in the course of which he destroyed eleven hostile aircraft, brought down two out of control and forced several others to land. On one occasion when flying solo, he fought six enemy machines, twice he fought five and once four, his craft being badly damaged. On returning with a damaged plane he had to be restrained from immediately going out in another.

Medal entitlement of Captain Albert Ball - The Sherwood Foresters & Royal Flying Corps

• Victoria Cross
• Distinguished Service Order ( DSO ) & 2 Bars
• Military Cross ( MC )
• 1914 - 15 Star
• British War Medal - ( 1914-20 )
• Victory Medal - ( 1914-19 ) with "MID Oakleaf"
• Croix de Chevalier, Legion d'Honneur ( France )
• Croix de Guerre ( France )