Quick Facts
Biography
Captain Oliver Colin LeBoutillier (24 May 1894 – 12 May 1983) was a World War I aviator who witnessed the death of Manfred von Richthofen. He was a vigorous proponent of Captain Roy Brown as the victor over Richthofen.
Post World War I, he became a stunt pilot for movies, a skywriter, and an aviation instructor whose most famous student was Amelia Earhart. Later, he became a civil aviation inspector.
Biography
He was born on 24 May 1894 to an English father and Canadian mother in Montclair, New Jersey.
World War I
He trained at the Wright Brothers Flying School in Mineola, New York. He then crossed into Canada and joined the Royal Naval Air Service on 21 August 1916. By April 1917, he had joined the No. 9 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service as a sub-lieutenant to pilot a Sopwith Triplane. Between 25 May and 29 July 1917, he scored four victories by driving enemy planes down out of control.
On 1 April 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps were combined into the Royal Air Force and 9 Naval became No. 209 Squadron RAF.
During a squadron dogfight on 21 April 1918 in the Somme River valley, LeBoutillier, Robert Foster, and Merrill Samuel Taylor shot down an Albatros two-seater and sparked a running dogfight during which Captain Roy Brown claimed to have downed Manfred von Richthofen. LeBoutillier claimed to have witnessed Brown's tracer bullets penetrating Richthofen's cockpit. Immediately after its crash, LeBoutillier flew over the triplane of von Richthofen.
He finished the war with ten aerial victories; one shared aircraft captured, three destroyed (including two shared), and six 'out of control' (one of which was shared). He had over 600 hours flying time in his log book by the end of the war.
Upon his return to the United States, LeBoutillier became a skywriter, and later an official of the Skywriting Corporation of America. He also became a barnstormer and piloted aircraft for eighteen movies, including: Hell's Angels and Wings. As a flight instructor, he gave Amelia Earhart her first lesson in a twin-engined aircraft. He became a Civil Aviation Authority inspector in charge of Colorado and Wyoming.
Death
He died on 12 May 1983 in Las Vegas, Nevada.