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Arthur Raymond
"Ray" Brooks (1895-1991) |
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Click to enlarge
Last Victory, Captain Ray Brooks
signed by Ray Brooks, $175
The print hanging above my mantle
came from Sig Unander of
Air Art Northwest
800-522-6111. |
| Arthur Raymond Brooks was born in Framingham,
Massachusetts, on 1 November, 1895. Following flight training in Canada
and Texas, he was assigned to the 139th Aero Squadron in France, where he
scored his first victory flying the SPAD VII on 19 July, 1918. He
transferred to the 22nd Aero Squadron, equipped with the newer SPAD XIII
and scored the first victory for the 22nd, a Rumpler, on 2 September,
1918. Over the next few weeks, Brooks downed four more, attaining his
sixth victory on 9 October. For his exploits, he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross. |
Heavy fog shrouded the American airdrome at Ceil,
France, on October 9, 1918. At noon it began to clear allowing Lt. A.
Raymond Brooks to take off, leading a flight of seven other SPAD XIIIs of
the 22nd Aero Squadron. Brooks was flying number 20, with the inscription
"Smith IV" beneath the cockpit, in honor of his fiancee who
attended Smith College in North Hampton, Massachusetts. They climbed out
to 3,500 meters, setting their course for the Verdun area. At 13:50 hours
they spotted four German two-place D.F.W. observation planes escorted by
nearly a dozen Fokker D-VIIs. Brooks led his flight to the attack. In the
ensuing battle one D.F.W. fell to Brooks' guns. Flight member Lt. Clinton
Jones downed another, which brought his total to five and made him an ace.
This proved to be Ray Brooks' last victory for just over a month later the
war was over. |
http://www.nasm.edu/nasm/arch/ARCH_REPOS/GUIDE.PT7.html
Brooks, Arthur Raymond: Papers (c.1917-1918) 1988-0051,
1989-0104
12 cubic feet
Arthur Raymond Brooks (1895- ) is a World War I ace credited with six
enemy aircraft. Brooks graduated from Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (1917) and enlisted in the Signal Officer Reserve Corps. He
attended the School of Military Aeronautics with the Royal Flying Corps in
Canada (September - November 1917), then trained with the 139th Squadron
(November 1917 - February 1918). In March 1918, he was transferred to
France, where he flew the SPAD XIII C.1 Smith IV, which now resides in the
NASM aircraft collection. While in France he became flight commander of
the 22nd Aero Squadron and earned the Distinguished Service Cross. He
returned to the US in July 1919, and was stationed at Kelly Field, Texas,
where he was promoted to Captain. He resigned from the army and received
an Honorable Discharge in December 1927. As a civilian, Brooks was
connected with Florida Airways Corp., which eventually merged into Eastern
Airways. He was also involved in the Contract Air Mail Route No.10, and
worked for the Department of Commerce, Aeronautics Branch. He joined Bell
Laboratories (1928), where he supervised air operations and the testing of
electronic aids for air navigation. He is also involved in numerous flying
clubs.
Contents: Brooks' personal papers and memorabilia. Photographs,
correspondence, documents, and certificates relating to Brooks' aviation
career, as well as personal correspondence, photographs and diaries
(1907-87). Brooks' decorations and pins have been transferred to the NASM
artifact collection.
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