Stephen Potter (officer)

Ensign Stephen Potter, USN (26 December 1896 – 25 April 1918) was a United States Navy officer and early Naval Aviator, who was killed in action during World War I. He was a member of the second Yale University unit which left college in April 1917 to enter naval aviation. He was a native of Saginaw, Michigan, and attended Phillips Exeter Academy.

Stephen Potter
Born(1896-12-26)December 26, 1896
Saginaw, Michigan
Died25 April 1918(1918-04-25) (aged 21)
North Sea
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service/branchUnited States Navy
Years of service1917–8
RankEnsign
Battles/warsWorld War I

Training

Potter trained with Volunteer Aerial Coast Patrol Unit No. 2 at Buffalo, N.Y., and was commissioned ensign on 2 November 1917. Ensign Potter volunteered to go overseas immediately and was assigned to the Advanced School at Montchic, Gironde, France. He was later assigned to the British Royal Naval Air Station at Felixstowe, England.

Action and Distinctions

As second pilot to a British captain on North Sea service, Ensign Potter won the distinction of being the first American naval aviator to shoot down a German seaplane.[1] He flew from the North Sea Station on 25 April 1918 in company with another plane. The pair spotted two German planes, one of them piloted by Oberleutnant zur See Friedrich Christiansen with observer Bernhard Wladika,[2][1] heading toward them approximately six miles from North Hinder Light. Five additional enemy planes joined them, and together the seven German combatants attacked the two British aircraft. Ensign Potter was killed after his plane was shot down by Christiansen's observer Wladika in the ensuing action.[1]

Namesake

The World War II destroyer USS Stephen Potter (DD-538), (1943–1972), was named in his honor.

References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
  • Guttman, Jon (2003), Naval Aces of World War 1 part 2 (Aircraft of the Aces 104), Osprey Publishing, ISBN 9781849086646
  1. Guttman 2003, p. 16.
  2. Guttman 2003, p. 15.
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