11 Facts About Keith Muspratt

Captain Keith Knox Muspratt was an English First World War flying ace in the Royal Flying Corps with eight victories to his name.

Keith Muspratt was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, the youngest of three sons of Charles Drummond Muspratt, MD, a surgeon, and his wife Mabel, the daughter of the Right Honourable Sir H Knox.

Keith Muspratt began to learn to fly while still at school, mainly during the holidays, attending the Ruffy-Baumann School of Flying at Hendon Aerodrome from mid-1915.

Keith Muspratt was awarded his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate on 27 April 1916.

Keith Muspratt left school at the end of the 1916 summer term, and was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant in the Dorsetshire Regiment for service in the Royal Flying Corps on 8 August 1916.

Keith Muspratt first served as a flying instructor and in a testing squadron, before joining No 56 Squadron in France in May 1917.

Keith Muspratt added a second out-of-control victory on the 28th while flying SE.

Keith Muspratt holed the radiator of Muspratt's aircraft and riddled the wings of another 56 Squadron aircraft.

Keith Muspratt was awarded the Military Cross on 18 October 1917, and destroyed two more German aircraft by the end of the month.

Keith Muspratt was promoted to lieutenant on 8 February 1918, and appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain on 11 February.

Keith Muspratt was killed in a flying accident in Suffolk on 16 March 1918, and is buried at Bournemouth Cemetery on Wimborne Road.