Distinguished Service Cross and Bar : Flight Lieutenant R A Little, 8 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service

Distinguished Service Cross and Bar (Geo V). Unnamed as issued.

Associated with the service of Captain Robert Alexander Little. Little was born in Hawthorn, Victoria on 19 July 1895 and was a commercial traveller in 1914 when he unsuccessfully attempted to gain one of the four places on offer at 1 Flying School, Point Cook, Victoria. He sailed for England in July 1915 and qualified as a pilot at his own expense on 27 October. On 14 January 1916 Little entered the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) as a sub-lieutenant and was posted to Dover, Kent.

In June he transferred to No. 1 Wing, Dunkirk where he saw action flying against the German submarine base at Zeebrugge. On 26 October Little was posted to the Western Front flying Sopwith Pups with 8 Squadron 'Naval 8'. He shot down his first enemy aircraft on 1 November and by March 1917 had scored nine aerial victories. When he went on leave to England that August, his tally had reached 37.

In recognition, Little was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) on 16 February 1917 and a bar to the award on 22 June 1917. His citation for the DSC reads: 'For conspicuous bravery in successfully attacking and bringing down hostile machines on several occasions. On 11th November, 1916, he attacked and brought down a hostile machine in flames. On 12th December, 1916, he attacked a German machine at a range of 50 yards; this machine was brought down in a nose-dive. On 20th December, 1916, he dived at a hostile machine, and opened fire at 25 yards range; the observer was seen to fall down inside the machine, which went down in a spinning nose-dive. On 1st January, 1917, he attacked an enemy scout, which turned over on its back and came down completely out of control'.

Little's citation for a bar to his DSC reads: 'For exceptional daring and skill in aerial fighting on many occasions, of which the following are examples:- On the 28th April, 1917, he destroyed an Aviatik; on the 29th April he shot down a hostile scout, which crashed. On the 30th April, with three other machines he went up after hostile machines and saw a big fight going on between fighter escorts and hostile aircraft. Flt.-Lieut. Little attacked one at fifty yards range, and brought it down out of control. A few minutes later he attacked a red scout with a larger machine than the rest. This machine was handled with great skill, but by clever manoeuvring Flt.-Lieut. Little got into a good position and shot it down out of control'. Little was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order and bar, the Croix de Guerre, and was mentioned in despatches.

Promoted to flight commander, Little returned to France in March 1918, flying Sopwith Camels with 3 Squadron. On 1 April when the RNAS and the Royal Flying Corps were amalgamated to form the Royal Air Force, Little became a captain with 203 Squadron, RAF. On the night of 27 May 1918 Little took off from Ezil le Hamel to intercept a group of German Gotha bombers. He was fatally wounded in the groin and crashed near Norviz, where he was found the following morning. He was buried in the village cemetery but was later reinterred at Wavans British War Cemetery.

Little is officially credited with a tally of 47 aerial victories, making him the most successful Australian ace of the war, the eighth of all British Commonwealth aces and the fourteenth of all aces from both sides of the conflict.