Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Leonard Thomas Eaton Taplin D.F.C. was a WW1 ace who shot down 12 enemy aircraft and balloons. An electrical engineer from Sydney, Taplin enlisted in the AIF Engineers in 1914. Transferring to the Australian Flying Corps, he was posted to Palestine in 1917, serving with 67 Squadron as a reconnaissance pilot. During his service in Palestine, he helped pioneer the use of aerial photography for cartography. After pilot's training, he was assigned to No. 1 Squadron AFC in the Middle East as a Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2 pilot. He had not been in the unit too long when he was in a crash. On 8 November 1917, while flying BE.2 serial number 4312 on a bombing sortie, Taplin wrecked the plane. His observer perished in the wreck, and Taplin was seriously injured.

He then transferred to the Western Front and was credited with 12 official aerial victories. Post war, he was an aviation pioneer in Australia, and a leading citizen in his adopted hometown. In July 1918, he joined 4 Squadron in France as a Sopwith Camel pilot. Nine days after he scored his first victory, Taplin was very nearly killed in a flying accident on 26 July 1918. That day, his bomb laden Camel crashed during take-off and he was blown clear, unhurt. On 5 September 1918, Taplin's flight of four Camels was overwhelmed and shot down by Fokker D.VIIs of Jasta 26 and 27. Badly wounded, he scored his final victory and was the only Allied pilot to survive the dogfight. Shot down by Christian Mesch, Taplin was captured and remained a prisoner until the end of the war.

Leonard Taplin would not be repatriated from his prisoner of war camp until 1919, arriving home on 23 August 1919. He joined Norman Brearley's fledgling Western Australian Airlines as a pilot for Australia's first scheduled airline. After Brearley sold out, Taplin settled in Port Hedland and became one of its leading citizens. He supplied electricity to the town, and served as both its butcher and undertaker.