ROBERT ALEXANDER LITTLE
The Naval Eight / 208 Squadron Association is indebted to the following websites, extracts from which form the majority of this article:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Little
Australian Dictionary of Biography: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/little-
Military History & Heritage Victoria Inc: http://www.mhhv.org.au/?p=3250
Diggerhistory: http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-
Scotch College Melbourne: https://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/ww1/first/littleRA.htm
Robert Alexander Little, DSO & Bar, DSC & Bar, is generally regarded as the most successful Australian flying ace, with an official tally of forty-
Little was born on 19 July 1895 at Hawthorn, a suburb of Melbourne, to Canadian James Little, a seller of medical and surgical books, and his Victorian-
‘Alec’, as Little was known, was living with his family at Windsor when World War I broke out in August 1914. Given the Imperial indoctrination of the age (a Scotch College historian described the school as ‘ultra-
Little had long been interested in aviation and decided to apply for pilot training at the Australian Army's Central Flying School in Point Cook. However, with only four vacancies, he was rejected along with hundreds of others. He therefore decided to sail for England in July 1915 and become a qualified pilot at his own expense. Several sources say he did this on his own initiative and at his own expense, though The Scotch Collegian’s assertion that his father paid for him to go seems more plausible. Alec or his father also paid £100 for his flying training at Hendon where he gained his flying certificate (No.1958 Royal Aero Club) on 27 October. He entered the Royal Naval Air Service as a probationary temporary sub-
Robert Alexander Little -