Brown, Arthur Roy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Brown_(RAF_officer)
Wiki Biography Notes:
- Arthur Roy Brown, DSC & Bar (23 December 1893 – 9 March 1944) was a Canadian flying ace of the First World War, credited with ten aerial victories. The Royal Air Force officially credited Brown with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen, the “Red Baron”, although historians, doctors, and ballistics experts consider it all but certain that Richthofen was actually killed by a machine gunner firing from the ground.
- Brown was born to upper-middle-class parents in Carleton Place, 50 km (31 mi) west of Ottawa. Though Brown did well in high school, he transferred to a business school to study accounting to eventually take over the family business. Following this course, he wanted to continue to university to study business administration, but he needed to have graduated from high school which he had not done. He took a course at the Victoria High School in Edmonton from 1913 to 1915 to get his high-school diploma.
- Brown enlisted in 1914 as an Officer Cadet at the Army Officers’ Training. As a prerequisite to joining the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), Brown received flight training at the Wright Flying School near Dayton, Ohio, from September to November 1914.
- In March 1917, Brown was posted to No. 9 Naval Squadron, flying coastal patrols off the Belgian coast in Sopwith Pups. In April, “B” Flight, which included Brown, was attached to the Army’s Royal Flying Corps to assist during the Battle of Arras. Brown fell ill at this time and missed “Bloody April”, a period when British casualties were very high.
- In June 1917, Brown was posted to No. 11 Naval Squadron, and in July he was briefly posted to No. 4 Naval Squadron before returning to No. 11 Naval Squadron later that month. On 17 July, he achieved his first “kill”, an Albatros D.III, while flying a Pup, and gathered another three unconfirmed kills.
- What happened next remains controversial to this day, but it seems highly probable that Richthofen turned to avoid Brown’s attack, and then, instead of climbing out of reach of ground fire and prudently heading for home, remained at low altitude and resumed his pursuit of May, who was still zig-zagging, as he had not noticed that Richthofen had been momentarily distracted. It would have been physically impossible for Richthofen to have done this had he already received the wound from which he died. May and Richthofen’s route now took them at low level over the heavily defended Allied front line. Franks and Bennett have suggested that Richthofen had become lost, as the winds that day were blowing the “wrong way”, towards the west, and the fight had drifted over to the Allied side. The front was also in a highly fluid state at the time, in contrast to the more common static trench lines earlier in the Great War, and landmarks can be confusing in very low level flight.
- Australian machine gunners on the ground fired at Richthofen, who eventually crashed near the Australian trenches. Brown’s initial combat report was that the fight with Richthofen was “indecisive” – this was altered by his commanding officer to “decisive”. Modern historical consensus suggests that Australian anti-aircraft gunner Sergeant Cedric Popkin is the person most likely to have been responsible for the shot that actually downed the Baron.
- Brown was officially credited with the kill by the RAF, shortly after receiving a Bar to his DSC, at least partly in recognition of this feat.
Third Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=15723
Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144094947/arthur-roy-brown