WWI Air Force Cross group of four, one confirmed kill, June 1917 to Captain A.B. Wright R.A.F.
Air Force Cross unnamed as issued.
War and Victory Medals officially named to: CAPT. A.B. WRIGHT R.A.F.
Boy Scout Medal named to: A.B. Wright 14-11-34.
Condition very fine.
Arthur Banks Wright was born on October 4, 1894 and was a resident of Glasgow, Scotland when he enlisted with the 6th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, naming his next-of-kin as his mother, Mrs. C..L. Wright of Glasgow. He attained the rank of 2nd Lieutenant effective October 18, 1914, as mentioned in the Second Supplement to the London Gazette 28971 of Tuesday, November 10, 1914, on Wednesday, November 11, 1914, page 9236. He was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and was posted Oxford on October 24, 1916, then to Renfrew on December 28th, before being transferred to Vendome for instruction on January 10, 1917. Two months later he was placed with the Training Brigade on March 14th and assigned to No. 6 Squadron, Central Flying School. Wright was named a Flying Officer effective April 7, 1917, as mentioned in the London Gazette on May 2, 1917 and in Flight Magazine on May 10, 1917, page 462. He was transferred to No. 2 (Auxiliary) School of Aerial Gunnery on April 23rd and earned a distinguished certificate as an Instructor of Signalling from the Army Signal School. Wright was posted to No. 23 Squadron on May 5th as a Stationary Scout and entered the French theatre with this unit. The first week in June 1917 saw a build-up in aerial activity by the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service prior to the Battle of Messines, which commenced on June 7th and lasted until the 14th June also the operational debut of the Sopwith Camel fighter, with the first unit to be equipped being No. 4 Squadron RNAS, while the first RFC squadron to receive the type, No. 70, replaced its now obsolescent Sopwith 1 ½ Strutters. Captain Wright was mentioned in a Royal Flying Crops communique on June 7, 1917: "Six Spads of 23 Squadron encountered a formation of HA (Hostile Aircraft) and in the ensuing combat, Captain D.A.L. Davidson and A.B. Wright drove down one HA and Captain Wright fired into it as it fell from close range and the HA crashed." Ten days later, he was in "Pursuit of E.A." (Enemy Aircraft) when he was wounded in the foot by E.A. fire, in France while with No 23 Squadron, on June 17, 1917. He was subsequently hospitalized and it was during this period of hospitalization that Wright was named a Lieutenant (Temporary Captain) effective July 19, 1917, as mentioned in the London Gazette on July 31, 1917. He was posted to No 6 Training Station, then to No. 3 Aircraft Acceptance Park and was finally declared "Fit" for high flying by a Medical Board on March 15, 1918 and was designated a Delivery Pilot. When the Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air service merged to form the Royal Air Force on April 1, 1918, he was transferred to the RAF accordingly. Beginning on November 7, 1918, as was posted to No. 2 School of Aerial Fighting and Gunnery, laced "for disposal" on December 1st, before returning to No. 2 School AFG on May 22, 1919. Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Wright, Royal Air Force (Highland Light Infantry) was awarded his Air Force Cross, as mentioned in the Thirteenth Supplement to the London Gazette 31378 of Friday, May 30, 1919, on Tuesday, June 3, 1919, page 7035. He was transferred to the Unemployed List on June 2, 1919. During his flying career, Wright was credit with having flown Candrons, Curitiss BE2c's, BE2d's, BE2e's and BEF's, Martinsydes, Spads, SESA Avros, Sopwith Bombers, Sopwith Two-Seaters, Bristol Scouts, Sopwith Scouts, Sopwith Camels, RE8's, Sopwith Dolphins, A. W.'s, D.H. 5's, D.H. 6's BE12's and BE12a's. He was briefly restore to the Active List on April 14, 1921, then transferred "to the unemployed list on cessation of temporary duty" effective June 4, 1921, as mentioned in Flight Magazine on July 14, 1921, page 479. After the war and living in England, Wright was proud on his work with the Boy Scouts and was awarded the Boy Scout Medal on November 14, 1934. The medal originated in the 1930's. It was designed with a swastika in its base, the swastika denoting life and good luck in many cultures and religions for more than three thousand years and even appeared in Fourteenth Century England in the form of the "fylfot" or "foot-footed" sign. It remained an integral part of the medal's design until 1940, as it became too closely associated with the swastika used by the Third Reich. In addition, the overlaying Fleur-de-Lys was chosen as a symbol of Scouting by Baden Powell.
Product Code: EM4271
