This mural is dedicated to Canadian First World War pilot Captain Arthur Roy Brown, DSC and bar, who the Royal Air Force officially credited with shooting down Manfred von Richthofen, the “Red Baron”. It was unveiled on November 13, 2012.
Arthur Roy Brown was born in Carleton Place in 1893 and joined the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in 1915. By March 1917, he was flying coastal patrols off of Belgium, but his unit soon joined the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in operations during the Battle of Arras and later the Somme. April 1918 saw the merger of the RNAS and the RFC to form the RAF.
On April 21, 1918, Brown was on patrol when his flight ran into German aircraft led by von Richthofen. Brown engaged von Richthofen in a “dog fight”, but was obliged to climb steeply to avoid crashing into the ground, losing his sight of Richthofen. The latter remained at low altitude and it is believed that he inadvertently drifted over to the Allied side where he was engaged by machine gun fire, eventually crashing near Australian trenches. Brown’s initial combat report was that the fight with Richthofen was “indecisive” – this was altered by his commanding officer to “decisive”. In any case, Brown was officially credited with the kill by the RAF.
Brown left the RAF in 1919, returning to Canada where he founded a small airline. He died in March 1944 in Stouffville, Ontario.
