A military history group plans to honor on Thursday a pilot fighter ace from Baltimore who joined the British armed forces in 1917 and became one of the greatest American aces of World War I.

Francis Warrington Gillet joined the Royal Air Force’s Squadron No. 79, and within a few months was credited with shooting down some 20 German planes and balloons. That put him second among Americans, behind Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker.

The Western Front Association plans to unveil a painting of Gillet at the War Memorial in Baltimore on Thursday evening. Retired Col. Robert J. Dalessandro, chairman of the United States World War I Centennial Commission, is scheduled to speak.

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