William Carpenter "Bill" Lambert (1894–1982) was an American fighter pilot who flew in World War I. He was probably the second-ranking American ace of World War I. He claimed 18 air-to-air victories, eight fewer than "Ace of Aces" Eddie Rickenbacker and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Biography
Lambert was born on August 18, 1894, in Ironton, Ohio. He was the son of Mary and William G. Lambert. Lambert had his first airplane flight in a Wright biplane on 4 July 1910.
In 1914, Lambert quit his job as a chemist in Buffalo, New York, to go enlist in the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. Finding no openings, he took a chemist's job with Canadian Explosives Limited until 1916. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in early 1917, and sailed for England after completion of his training, on 19 November 1917. He joined No. 24 Squadron RFC on 20 March 1918, flying the Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a, where his teacher was top scoring Irish-born ace George McElroy. Between April and August, scored 18 victories–one observation balloon and 11 aircraft destroyed (with two victories shared), and six driven down out of control (one of which was a shared victory).
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Suffering from combat fatigue brought on by a bombing attack on his airfield, he was rotated back to England for medical leave on 20 August 1918