Arras Flying Services Memorial

The Arras Flying Services Memorial Commonwealth War Graves Commission war memorial in the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, Arras, France. The memorial commemorates nearly 1,000 airmen from forces of the Commonwealth who were killed on the Western Front during World War I and who have no known grave. The memorial was designed by Edwin Lutyens, sculpted by William Reid Dick and unveiled by Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on 31 July 1932.

In the spring of 1916, French troops transferred the city of Arras in Pas-de-Calais, France, to the British armed forces. Construction of the British portion of Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery in the western portion of Arras, near the Citadel designed by Vauban, began in March 1916, behind the existing French graveyard. After the Armistice, the cemetery was extended with graves that were transferred from the battlefield and from two smaller graveyards in the area. The graves in the French portion of the military cemetery were moved elsewhere after the war. The vacant land was then designated for two monuments, the Arras Memorial and the Arras Flying Services Memorial. The Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery comprises 2,650 graves of the First World War, including 10 unidentified burials. In addition to 8 WWII burials from the United Kingdom and United States, there are 30 graves of other nationalities. The Arras Memorial commemorates nearly 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and New Zealand who died between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918 (the eve of the Advance to Victory) in the Arras region and who have no known grave. (Missing Canadian and Australian servicemen are commemorated elsewhere.) The Arras Flying Services Memorial commemorates nearly 1,000 members of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force who were killed on the Western Front and who have no known grave.