Clayton Knight facts for kids

Clayton Knight (March 30, 1891 – July 17, 1969) was an American pilot during World War I. He was also a talented artist who drew pictures of airplanes and helped create the comic strip Ace Drummond. Knight is also famous for starting the Clayton Knight Committee. He received an award called the OBE.

Clayton Knight's Early Life and Art School

Clayton Knight was born in Rochester, New York. From 1910 to 1913, he studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago. He learned from famous artists like Robert Henri and George Bellows. By early 1917, Knight was a successful artist in New York City.

Flying in World War I

In 1917, Knight decided to join the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He really wanted to become a pilot. He was one of 150 American pilots sent to England for training that year. In total, 2,500 pilots were sent to France and England to speed up their training.

Knight started his pilot training with the No. 44 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. This group was formed in Essex on July 24, 1917. He also flew with the 206 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps, which later became part of the Royal Air Force. He served with the British Second Army in France.

On October 5, 1918, a German pilot named Oberleutnant Harald Auffarth shot down Knight's plane. Knight was flying a British Havilland 9. He was hurt but survived the crash, landing in German territory. When the war ended, Knight was a prisoner of war in a German hospital. He later recovered in a British hospital.

Clayton Knight's Amazing Career

An example of his artwork for House & Garden in 1922.

Artwork and Writing

After he recovered from the war, Knight continued his work as an aviation artist. He showed his art at a place called Associated American Artists. He started collecting airplane art in 1928, and his collection might be one of the biggest ever. Knight became well-known for his drawings in books about airplanes. He also drew for The New Yorker magazine.

Knight and his wife often worked together on children's books. He wrote and drew pictures for several We Were There books. These were historical novels for kids that told a fictional story about a real event, with children as the main characters. He wrote and illustrated:

• We Were There...at the Normandy Invasion
• We Were There...with the Lafayette Escadrille
• We Were There...at the Battle of Britain (which he wrote with his wife)

Knight also wrote, co-wrote, or illustrated many other books, including:

• War Birds: Diary of an Unknown Aviator (1926)
• The Red Knight of Germany: The Story of Baron von Richthofen (1927)
• Pilot's Luck (1929)
• Ships Aloft: A Construction Book for Future Flyers (1936)
• Quest of the Golden Condor (1945)
• Secret of the Buried Tomb (1948)
• Skyroad to Mystery (1949)
• Hitch your Wagon-Bernt Balchen (1950)
• The Story of Flight (1954)
• Normandy Invasion (1956)
• Lifeline in the Sky- MATS (1957)
• Plane Crash (1958)
• Battle of Britain (1959)
• About our Armed Forces (1959)
• The How and Why Book of Rockets and Missiles (1960)
• Layfayette Escadrille (1961)
• Rockets, Missiles and Satellites (1962)

The Clayton Knight Committee

In 1940, Knight started The Clayton Knight Committee with Billy Bishop. At that time, Knight was living in Greenwich Village. The United States was not yet officially in World War II. However, this committee helped Americans go to Canada to train and fight for the Allies.

Homer Smith provided money for the committee. It also got help from German people who supported the war and had moved away from Germany. From 1939 to 1942, Knight's official job was "Special Correspondent for the Associated Press." This was a cover for his real work with The Clayton Knight Committee.

Billy Bishop spent much of 1940 in London with Winston Churchill. This meant Knight had to set up offices and find new partners during this time. Their first office was in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. The committee later opened offices in many other cities. These included Spokane, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Kansas City, Cleveland, Atlanta, Memphis, and San Antonio.

Later Years and Awards

The Clayton Knight Committee stopped its work in May 1942. From 1943 to 1945, Knight became an official artist for the United States Army Air Forces. He worked in places like Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and the Central Pacific. He also worked as a historian, recording events.

His original artwork, personal diaries, and documents from the wars are kept at the Air Force University Library. Some of his papers are also at the University of Southern Mississippi's de Grummond Children's Literature Collection.

On July 10, 1946, Clayton Knight was given the award of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He received this honor for his important help to England during both World War I and World War II.

Clayton Knight's Family Life

Clayton Knight's wife was Katherine Sturges Dodge. She was also an artist, illustrator, and designer. They had two sons. Their son, Hilary Knight, became famous for illustrating the Eloise series of children's books.

Clayton Knight passed away on July 17, 1969, in Danbury, Connecticut.

Images for kids

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  An example of his artwork for House & Garden in 1922.