Arthur Roy Brown

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Arthur Roy Brown

Arthur Roy Brown (* 23. December 1893 in Carleton Place ; † 9. March 1944 in Stouffville ) was a Canadian fighter pilot in the First World War . Brown was involved in the aerial battle in which Manfred von Richthofen was fatally wounded. For a long time he was considered to be the conqueror of Richthofen, but this has proven to be erroneous through recent research.

Life

Arthur Roy Brown was born on December 23, 1893 in Carleton, Canada, the youngest of five siblings. His parents owned a mill . As a gifted student, he found his way to the officers' school in 1915 and was quickly fascinated by the then new technology of flying . Another reason for his interest in flying was his desire to go to war but not end up in the trenches . In 1915 Arthur Roy Brown became a member of the Freemasons ' Union , his lodge St. John's Lodge 63 is located in Carleton Place , Ontario .

When the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) recruited in Canada , Brown chose the Royal Naval Air Service because the Royal Flying Corps suffered very high losses.

First World War

In March 1917 he was transferred to the 9th Naval Squadron and then flew in a Sopwith Pup patrol on the Belgian coast. After a few months with the 11th and 4th Squadrons training new pilots, the 11th Squadron was disbanded in August 1917 and Brown returned to the 9th Squadron. From now on he flew a Sopwith Camel and took off from the Leffrinckoucke Aerodrome in France .

When the Royal Air Force was founded on April 1, 1918 , all RFC and RNAS squadrons were transferred to it. So all RNAS squadrons were renamed according to the system 200 + old number, the 9th became 209. The ranks of the RNAS were also adjusted to those of the RFC and so Brown became captain.

Richthofen's death

On the morning of April 21, 1918, Brown's 209th squadron met Manfred von Richthofen's 11th squadron . When the young lieutenant Wilfrid May withdrew from the fighting, von Richthofen pursued him. Brown saw that May was in trouble, sat behind the red triplane and fired several bursts of fire from a great distance that probably went wrong. While von Richthofen was chasing May over the British lines, he was shot at by three Australian machine guns . Fatally wounded in the chest by a bullet, he was able to land his machine (the Fokker Dr I 425/17) almost undamaged in front of the Australian position before bleeding to death internally.

Richthofen was brought to a hangar by an Australian ambulance in Poulainville .

When Brown appeared to examine the “mighty warrior” he had defeated, he was shocked and wrote: “Even if he had been my best friend, I could not have felt more sadness.” (Original: “If he had been my dearest friend, I could not have felt greater sorrow. ")

Shortly after Richthofen's death, Brown was admitted to hospital for various illnesses , including stress and gastritis . After coming out of the hospital in mid-June, he returned to the UK and became a flight instructor at No. 2 School of Aerial Fighting. During a routine inspection flight on the morning of July 5, 1918, the engine of his plane failed and he crashed in a forest.

Life after the war

After the war, Brown left the RAF in 1919 and returned to his civilian life. There he worked as an accountant , founded a small airline and wrote for Canadian Aviation , a Canadian aviation magazine. When World War II began, he tried to join the newly formed Royal Canadian Air Force , but was turned down. He then tried his hand at politics , but lost an election in Ontario in 1943 .

He died of a heart attack on March 9, 1944 at the age of 50 .

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Famous Freemasons Arthur Roy Brown , Homepage: Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon (Retrieved April 25, 2012)
  2. Roy Brown Freemason at St. John's Lodge 63 ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Homepage of the Masonic Lodge St. John's Lodge 63 (Retrieved April 25, 2012) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / stjohns63.com