Roy Brown (RAF officer)

Arthur Roy Brown
Arthur Roy Brown
Nickname(s)	Brownie
Born	December, 23 1893 Carleton Place, Ontario
Died	March 9, 1944 (1944-03-10) (aged 50) Stouffville, Ontario
Allegiance	Canada
Years of service	1915–1918
Rank	Captain
Unit	World War I: N9 RNAS, 209 Squadron RAF
Awards	DSC and bar

Captain Arthur Roy Brown DSC and bar RNAS (23 December 1893 – 9 March 1944) was a Canadian World War I flying ace. The Royal Air Force officially credited Brown with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron". What is less well known is that Brown never lost a pilot in his flight during combat, a rare distinction for an air unit commander of that war. This was due largely to his demands for a "breaking in" period in which new pilots flew over the fights just to see how they worked.

Early years

Brown was born to upper-middle class parents in Carleton Place, 30 miles (50 km) west of Ottawa. His family home still exists, located at 38 Mill Street, just down from the Town Hall. He was the middle of five children. He had two older sisters, Margaret and Bessie, and two younger brothers, Horace and Howard. His father had started business as a miller, but branched out into electrical generation when the first power grids were being set up around the turn of the century. His father eventually owned a power company in the town.

Though Brown did well in high school, he transferred to a business school to study accounting in order to eventually take over the family business. Following this course, he wanted to continue to university to study business administration, but he needed his high school matriculation, which he technically did not have. He took a course at the Victoria High School in Edmonton from 1913-15 to get his high-school diploma. There he befriended Wilfrid R. "Wop" May.

Flight training

Brown enlisted in 1915 as an Officer Cadet at the Army Officers' Training. Brown joined the Royal Naval Air Service for pilot training in 1915, graduating on 24 November.

Wartime service

As a flight sub-lieutenant, Brown set sail for England on November 22, 1915 and underwent further training at Chingford. On 2 May 1916, Brown crashed his Avro 504 emerging apparently unscathed, though next morning he experienced severe back pain as he had broken a vertebra. He spent two months in hospital and in September 1916 was posted to Eastchurch Gunnery School. In January 1917, he was sent to Cranwell to complete advanced training.

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 RFC 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, flying a Pup. He was promoted to flight lieutenant, and gathered another three unconfirmed kills.

No. 11 was disbanded in mid-August 1917, and Brown returned to No. 9, equipped with the Sopwith Camel. On 6 October 1917, Brown was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC).

Soon after, Brown was made flight commander, a role in which he excelled. No. 9 was posted to the Somme area in early 1918, and was forced to retreat during the German spring offensive between 20 and 29 March. The tempo of operations increased, with the entire squadron typically flying two missions a day. Col. Raymond Collishaw noted on an April visit that Brown looked exhausted: he had lost 25 pounds (11 kg), his hair was prematurely turning grey, and his eyes were bloodshot and sunken. Also contaminated rabbit had left him severely sickened with gastritis. Against Collishaw's suggestions, Brown refused to quit flying, and shot down another two aircraft on 11 and 12 April.

On 1 April 1918, the RFC and RNAS merged into the Royal Air Force. Brown's No. 9 Squadron RNAS became No. 209 RAF.

Fighting Richthofen/Red Baron

On the morning of 21 April, No. 209 was on patrol when they became engaged in combat with fighters of Jagdstaffel 11, led by Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron". A newcomer to No. 209, Brown's school friend, Lt. Wop May, had been instructed to stay clear of any fight and watch. May noticed an enemy pilot doing the same thing. That pilot was the Red Baron's cousin, Lt. Wolfram von Richthofen, who had been given the same instructions as May. May attacked Wolfram and soon found himself in the main fight, firing at several fleeting targets until his guns jammed. May dived out of the fight, and Manfred von Richthofen gave chase down to ground level. Brown saw May in trouble and dived steeply in an attempt to rescue his friend. His attack was necessarily of fairly short duration, as he was obliged to climb steeply to avoid crashing into the ground, losing sight of both Richthofen and May.

Later years

Nine days after the combat with von Richthofen, Brown was admitted to hospital with influenza and nervous exhaustion. In June, he was posted to No. 2 School of Air Fighting as an instructor. He was involved in a bad air crash on 15 July, and spent five months in hospital.

He left the RAF in 1919 and returned to Canada where he took up work as an accountant. He also founded a small airline and worked for a while as editor of Canadian Aviation. When World War II started, he attempted to enlist in the newly-formed Royal Canadian Air Force, but was refused. He instead entered politics, losing an election for the Ontario legislature in 1943. He later purchased a run-down farm near Stouffville, Ontario and turned it into a prosperous business.

He died on 9 March 1944, of a heart attack, in Stouffville, Ontario shortly after posing for a photograph with a current flying ace, George Beurling. He was 50 years old.

Plaque

A memorial plaque titled "Captain A. Roy Brown, D.S.C. 1893-1944", was erected at the Carleton Place Public Library by the Ontario Heritage Foundation, in memory of this local fighter ace.

Brown in film and fiction

He was portrayed by Don Stroud in the 1971 film Von Richthofen and Brown.

In the 2008 film The Red Baron, British actor Joseph Fiennes plays a character based on Captain Brown. The film has little if any connection with historical events - for example Brown is depicted as having been shot down by Richthofen in 1916 and subsequently escaping from a German POW camp. There is also a later scene in which Brown and Richthofen crash in no man's land and share a friendly drink. Although the film states that it is unknown who killed Richthofen, it is implied that Brown was responsible.

Arrowdreams, an Aurora Award-winning anthology of alternate history short stories involving Canada, includes "Misfire", a story by Shane Simmons in which Brown wounds rather than kills Richthofen. Richthofen survives World War I and eventually commands the Luftwaffe in World War II, displacing Herman Goring, and leading them to an unqualified victory in the Battle of Britain.

Endnotes

References

• Norman Franks and Alan Bennett (1997): The Red Baron's Last Flight. Grub Street, London. ISBN 1904943330
• Alan Bennett, Margaret Harmon & Denny May (2010): Captain Roy Brown, Brick Tower Press, ISBN 1883283566; ISBN 978-1883283568

External links

• A very comprehensive account of Roy Brown