 On 20 July 1917 , soon after arriving at his new unit in France , Pentland achieved his first victory in the SPAD when he shared in the destruction of an Albatros two @-@ seater . He followed this up with a solo " kill " on 12 August . Four days later , after stopping an enemy truck convoy in its tracks by crippling its lead vehicle with machine @-@ gun fire , he reportedly engaged ten Albatros fighters single @-@ handedly ; by the time he had driven them off , four bullets had penetrated his leather flying suit without injuring him , while his plane had absorbed so much punishment that it had to be scrapped when he got back to base . After sharing another Albatros two @-@ seater on 20 August , Pentland led a raid on <unk> aerodrome , home of Baron von Richthofen 's Jasta 11 , on 26 August . On the way , he helped bring down a DFW C.V , then achieved complete surprise at the airfield , which he and his flight proceeded to shoot up . On the return journey , he strafed an enemy train until his guns jammed and then , having managed to clear them , engaged two more German scouts . His part in the raid earned him the Military Cross , promulgated in the London Gazette on 9 January 1918 : 
