Ball was educated at Trent College, which he left in 1913. On the outbreak of World War I, he joined the army. During the summer of 1915 he learned to fly at his own expense at Hendon, Middlesex, obtaining his pilot's certificate in October 1915, and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Having served in France as an army cooperation pilot from February 1916, he was posted in June to No. 11 fighter squadron (flying Nieuport Scout airplanes) and later to No. 60 and 56 squadrons (flying S.E.5s). In spite of his skill and daring, Captain Ball was shot down and killed over Annoeullin, near Lens, in 1917, possibly by gunfire from the ground, but exactly how he was killed is not definitely known. He won the Victoria Cross, as well as numerous other honours.