Roy Phillipps
Australian fighter ace
Died when: 49 years 81 days (590 months)Star Sign: Pisces
Roy Cecil Phillipps, MC & Bar, DFC (1 March 1892 – 21 May 1941) was an Australian fighter ace of World War I.He achieved fifteen victories in aerial combat, four of them in a single action on 12 June 1918.
A grazier between the wars, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1940 and was killed in a plane crash the following year.
Born in New South Wales but raised in Western Australia, Phillipps joined the Australian Imperial Force as an infantryman in April 1915, seeing action at Gallipoli and on the Western Front.
Wounded twice in 1916, he transferred to the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) and was accepted for pilot training in May 1917.As a member of No. 2 Squadron in France, Phillipps flew mainly S.E.5 fighters, and was awarded two Military Crosses and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions.
He finished the war a major, commanding No. 6 (Training) Squadron in England.Returning to Australia in 1919, he left the AFC and was managing a rural property when he enlisted in the RAAF soon after the outbreak of World War II.
At his death he was ranked squadron leader, commanding No. 2 Elementary Flying Training School at Archerfield, Queensland.
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