Arthur Whitten Brown

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Not to be confused with the Canadian World War I RAF fighter ace Arthur Roy Brown.
Sir

Arthur Whitten Brown

Buckinghamshire, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army, Royal Air Force
Years of service1914–19, 1939–43
RankLieutenant-Colonel
UnitUniversity and Public Schools Brigade
Manchester Regiment
2 Squadron Royal Flying Corps

KBE (23 July 1886 – 4 October 1948) was a British military officer and aviator who flew as navigator of the first successful non-stop transatlantic flight with pilot John Alcock in June 1919.[1][2]

Biography

Arthur Whitten Brown was born in Glasgow to American parents; his father had been sent to Scotland to evaluate the feasibility of siting a Westinghouse factory on

Clydeside. The factory was eventually sited in Trafford Park in Stretford, Manchester
, and the family subsequently relocated there.

Brown began his career in engineering before the outbreak of

Second Lieutenant in the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the Manchester Regiment. After service in France, Brown was seconded to 2 Squadron Royal Flying Corps
as an observer.

Brown's aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over

2673
) on a reconnaissance flight on 10 November 1915. Brown and his pilot, 2nd Lt. H. W. Medlicott, were captured by the Germans. (In June 1918 Medlicott was shot by the Germans while attempting to escape for the fourteenth time). Later interned in Switzerland, Brown was repatriated in September 1917.

After a period of leave he went to work with Major Kennedy RAF in the

John Alcock
, who had already been chosen as pilot.

Transatlantic flight

Main article: Transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown
Brown (left) with John Alcock in 1919

The flight from

King George V invested them with their insignia as Knights Commanders of the Order of the British Empire.[5][6]

Post flight career

A sculpture of Alcock and Brown near the location of the (demolished) Vickers factory in Crayford, southeast London

Later he worked for Metropolitan-Vickers (MetroVick), the company that had once been British Westinghouse. In 1923 he was appointed chief representative for Metropolitan-Vickers in the Swansea area.

During

Lieutenant-Colonel before resigning his commission in July 1941, rejoining the RAF and working in RAF Training Command as a pilot officer dealing with navigation. His health deteriorated and by mid-1943 he had to resign from the RAFVR[7] and give up his Air Training Corps
commitments on medical advice.

Brown's only son, Arthur (known as Buster), was killed on the night of 5/6 June 1944, aged 22, while serving with the RAF as a Flight Lieutenant. His aircraft, a de Havilland Mosquito VI NT122, of 605 Squadron, crashed in the Netherlands. Buster was buried at the general cemetery in Hoorn, the town closest to the crash. The death of his only son affected Brown badly.

By 1948 Brown's health had again deteriorated, although he was allowed to undertake restricted duties as general manager for Metropolitan-Vickers at the Wind Street offices.

Brown died in his sleep on 4 October 1948 from an accidental overdose of Veronal, a sleeping pill, aged 62.[8][9]

Brown and his wife's ashes are interred at St Margaret Churchyard, Tylers Green, Buckinghamshire, England.

Works

  • Flying the Atlantic in Sixteen Hours, with a Discussion of Aircraft in Commerce and Transportation. Frederick A. Stokes. 1920.
    ISBN 978-1-4097-1887-1
  • Our Transatlantic Flight, Alcock and Brown, William Kimber, 1969,
    ISBN 978-0-7183-0221-4

See also

References

  1. ^ Ralph S. Cooper, D.V.M. "Arthur Whitten Brown". Earlyaviators.com. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  2. ^ "Sir Arthur Whitten Brown (British aviator) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  3. ^ "Alcock and Brown – Great Britain". Aviation-history.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  4. ^ "Introduction John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown were two British fliers". Fi.edu. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  5. ^ "No. 31422". The London Gazette. 27 June 1919. p. 8087.
  6. ^ "Alcock, Brown and the first non-stop transatlantic flight". Science and Industry Museum.
  7. ^ "No. 36054". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 1943. p. 2735.
  8. Nottingham Evening Post
    . 4 October 1948. p. 4. Retrieved 20 June 2023. – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk (subscription required)
  9. ^ "A verdict of death from asphyxia". Irish Independent. 20 October 1948. p. 5. Retrieved 20 June 2023. A verdict of death from asphyxia, due to an overdose of Veronal, accidentally self-administered, was recorded at an inquest at Swansea on Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown. Sir Arthur made history when he flew the Atlantic with Alcock in 1919. – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk (subscription required)

External links

Media related to Arthur Whitten Brown at Wikimedia Commons

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