World War I recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross and bar. Officially credited by the Royal Air Force with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron". Brown enlisted as an Officer Cadet at the Army Officers' Training and graduated from the Royal Naval Air Service for pilot training in 1915. Soon after, he sailed to England as a flight sub-lieutenant and underwent further training at Chingford. Thought to have been unharmed when Brown crashed his Avro 504 on May 2, 1916, the next morning he experienced severe back pain, as he had actually broken a vertebra. After spending two months recuperating in hospital, he was posted to Eastchurch Gunnery School in September 1916 and then sent to Cranwell to complete advanced training in January 1917. Brown was then posted to No. 9 Naval Squadron in March, where he flew coastal patrols off the Belgian coast. In June 1917, Brown was posted for a short time to No. 11 Naval Squadron. Brown acquired his first kill while flying on July 17, 1917. Following his promotion to flight lieutenant, he gathered another three unconfirmed kills. Brown was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on October 6, 1917. Brown was then made flight commander. Posted to the Somme in early 1918, operations increased and Brown's condition deteriorated. But he refused to quit flying and shot down two more aircraft on April 11th and 12th. While on patrol on April 21st, Brown's squadron became engaged in combat with fighters led by Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron". In an attempt to aid his friend, Lt. Wop May, Brown attacked Manfred von Richthofen. Brown was officially credited with the kill by the Royal Air Force soon after receiving a Bar to his Distinguished Service Cross. As an air unit commander during the First World War, Captain Arthur Roy Brown never lost a pilot in his flight during combat.∼WWI Canadian Fighter Pilot. Distinguished Service Cross with bar device. Credited as the air ace who finally brought the "Red Baron," Baron Manfred von Richthofen, down to earth. Entered the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915; almost killed when he crashed an Avro 504 on 2 May 1916; eventually recovered and was assigned to 9 Naval Squadron on the Western Front in April 1917. Reassigned to 11 Naval Squadron, scored his first victory on 17 July 1917, while flying a Sopwith Pup. In the fall, he rejoined 9 Naval Squadron to fly Sopwith Camels, becoming a flight commander in February 1918. In the most famous aerial combat of WWI, Brown's flight encountered Jasta 11 on the morning of April 21, 1918. In the battle that followed, Brown scored his final victory of the war while engaging a red Fokker DR.I; he was officially credited with shooting down the Red Baron. For this action, Brown received a bar to his Distinguished Service Cross. "If he had been my dearest friend, I could not have felt greater sorrow" Brown said on viewing the body of Manfred von Richthofen. In 1919, Brown left the Royal Air Force and returned to Canada where he worked as an accountant, founded a small airline and became an editor for " Canadian Aviation" magazine. During World War II, Brown entered politics after his application to join the Royal Canadian Air Force was rejected. The year before he died, he ran for Parliament but lost the election.