Oliver Colin LeBoutillier

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Oliver Colin LeBoutillier (May 24, 1894 – May 12, 1983) was a World War I aviator who witnessed the death of Baron von Richthofen.

He was born in New Jersey in 1895. He crossed into Canada in 1916 and joined the Royal Naval Air Service. By April of 1917 as a Sub-Lieutenant, he was attached to 9 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service. On April 1, 1918 the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps were combined into the Royal Air Force. Promoted to Captain, he was in command of "B" flight 209 Squadron RAF on April 21, 1918 in the Somme river valley. He witness the attack of Captain Roy Brown in his Camel B7270 and the death of Baron von Richthofen. Immediately after the crash, Oliver flew over the crashed triplane of von Richthofen. Oliver finished the war with 10 aerial kills. He became a barnstormer and piloted aircraft for eighteen movies, such as Hell's Angels and Wings. As a flight instructor he gave Amelia Earhart her first instruction in a twin-engined aircraft and was a test pilot for Howard Hughes. He became a Civil Aviation Authority inspector in charge of Colorado and Wyoming. He died on May 12, 1983 in Las Vegas, Nevada.