Roy Phillipps | |
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Captain Roy Phillipps in France, March 1918
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Birth name | Roy Cecil Phillipps |
Born |
New South Wales, Australia |
1 March 1892
Died | 21 May 1941 Archerfield, Queensland, Australia |
(aged 49)
Allegiance | Australia |
Service/branch |
Australian Imperial Force Royal Australian Air Force |
Years of service | 1915–1919 1940–1941 |
Rank | Squadron Leader |
Unit |
28th Battalion AIF (1915–17) No. 32 Squadron RFC (1917) No. 2 Squadron AFC (1917–18) |
Commands held |
No. 6 Squadron AFC (1918–19) No. 2 EFTS RAAF (1940–41) |
Battles/wars |
World War I World War II |
Awards |
Military Cross & Bar Distinguished Flying Cross |
Other work | Grazier |
World War I
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.