[Frank Olynyk]

Marion Aten did not shoot down anything in the Russian Civil War. One of my projects is to get him removed from the list of American fighter aces. The claim that he shot down five planes appears in his book Last Train Over Rostov Bridge, co-written with Arthur Ormond. The book credits those victories in the April-May 1919 period. However the 47 Sqn Record Book does not note Aten joining the unit until August 1919 (the 19th I believe, from memory). This information was then picked up and included in Above the Trenches (Shores, Franks, Guest) and has propagated forward from there.

Aten also wrote a five-part biography of his time in Russia, that appeared in Liberty Magazine from Aug 31, 1935 to Sept 28, titled Flying Madmen, as told to H Bedford-Jones. As I remember, there is only one mention of air combat, where he states that he might have damaged one aircraft.

I am unaware of any claims by Americans in air combat between the end of the First World War, and the Spanish Civil War and the Sino-Japanese War.

Frank.
Historian, American Fighter Aces Association.