Edgar O. Amm

Amm was born in Johannesburg, the fourth child (and second son) of Edwin John Amm and Amy Celia Hill.{{cite web |url=http://www.1820settlers.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Genealogy&file=familygroup&familyID=F13793&tree=1 |title=Amm/Hill family |first=Darrin |last=Lythgoe |year=2002 |work=British 1820 Settlers to South Africa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303194755/http://www.1820settlers.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Genealogy&file=familygroup&familyID=F13793&tree=1 |archive-date=3 March 2012 |access-date=14 December 2016}}

After leaving school Amm joined the Royal Flying Corps in South Africa{{cite web |url=http://www.1820settlers.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Genealogy&file=getperson&personID=I41886&tree=1 |title=Edgar Oxenham Amm |first=Darrin |last=Lythgoe |year=2002 |work=British 1820 Settlers to South Africa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303194746/http://www.1820settlers.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Genealogy&file=getperson&personID=I41886&tree=1 |archive-date=3 March 2012 |access-date=14 December 2016}} as a temporary second lieutenant (on probation). Having successfully completed his basic flight training, he was confirmed in his rank and made a flying officer on 19 November 1917.{{London Gazette |date=7 December 1917 |supp=y |issue=30419 |page=12874 |nolink=yes}} He travelled to Britain in early 1918.

On 1 April 1918, the Army's Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) were merged to form the Royal Air Force. Amm was posted to France in early July 1918, to fly the S.E.5a single-seat fighter in No. 29 Squadron RAF. He was almost immediately successful, setting a German Fokker D.VII fighter on fire on 12 August 1918. He gained two more victories in August, two in September, three in October. On 9 November, he drove down one Fokker D.VII and set another on fire. In turn, he was shot down by a third D.VII, but was captured unharmed.{{sfnp|Franks|2007|p=73}} Initially listed as missing{{cite journal |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1918/1918%20-%201381.html |title=The Roll of Honour: Missing |issue=519 |volume=X |page=1382 |journal=Flight |date=5 December 1918 |access-date=14 December 2016}} he spent a very short spell as a prisoner of war; one version of his repatriation has him riding a bicycle into his old unit on 24 November; another says he was held for only 48 hours.{{sfnp|Franks|2007|p=73}}{{cite journal |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1918/1918%20-%201407.html |title=The Roll of Honour: Repatriated |issue=530 |volume=X |page=1408 |journal=Flight |date=12 December 1918 |access-date=14 December 2016}} A summary of Amm's victories credits him with seven enemy aircraft and an observation balloon destroyed, and two aircraft driven down out of control.

Amm was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 3 December 1918. His citation read:

:Lieutenant Edgar Oxenham Amm.

::"A gallant and dashing airman who has, destroyed four enemy machines and balloon. On 17th September, in company with six other machines, this officer took part in an engagement with seventeen hostile aircraft; eight of these were destroyed, Lieutenant Amm accounting for one."{{London Gazette |date=29 November 1918 |supp=y |issue=31046 |pages=14317–14318 |nolink=yes}}

On 3 June 1919 he was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross in recognition of his "distinguished services rendered during the war",{{London Gazette |date=30 May 1919 |supp=y |issue=31378 |page=7030 |nolink=yes}} and on 15 July 1919 was granted unrestricted permission to wear the Croix de guerre conferred on him by the King of the Belgians.{{London Gazette |date=11 July 1919 |supp=y |issue=31457 |page=8987 |nolink=yes}}

Amm declined an opportunity to return home on the first flight ever from England to South Africa,{{cite journal |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200346.html |title=The Flight to the Cape |issue=587 |volume=XII |page=346 |journal=Flight |date=25 March 1920 |access-date=14 December 2016}} citing a promise to his father to never fly again. After he returned home, he farmed.

{{See also|Aerial victory standards of World War I}}

Amm married Annie Joyce Peppercorn; they had two daughters and a son, all born in the 1930s. During World War II he joined the South African Air Force, serving as a flying instructor; he then served in Egypt and the Middle East, as well as Italy, with the rank of major.{{sfnp|Franks|2007|p=73}} After the war, he sold his farm and founded the South Coast Aviation Company. From there, he moved on to citrus farming, managing Valencia Estates at Letaba. His last known occupation was general manager of Tzaneen Co-operative Citrus Company Ltd., Politsi, Tzaneen, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Amm died in a nursing home in Johannesburg on 25 March 1953. His death certificate showed him as ten years younger than his actual age.

Citations

{{Reflist|30em}}

Bibliography

• {{cite book |first=Norman |last=Franks |authorlink=Norman Franks |title=SE 5/5a Aces of World War I |location=Oxford, UK |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-1846031809}}
• {{cite book |first1=Christopher F. |last1=Shores |first2=Norman |last2=Franks |authorlink2=Norman Franks |first3=Russell F. |last3=Guest |title=Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920 |location=London, UK |publisher=Grub Street |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-948817-19-9 |name-list-style=amp}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Amm, Edgar O.}}

Category:1898 births

Category:1953 deaths

Category:Military personnel from Johannesburg

Category:White South African people

Category:Royal Flying Corps officers

Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War I

Category:South African World War I flying aces

Category:South African recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)

Category:Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium)

Category:World War I prisoners of war held by Germany

Category:South African World War II pilots