Elwyn King

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elwyn Roy King DSO DFC (1894–1941) was an Australian fighter pilot and ace in World War I. He scored 26 aerial victories in combat during the war, making him the fourth best Australian pilot in terms of kills. King was also the highest scoring Sopwith Snipe pilot of the war, making seven kills whilst piloting just that aeroplane.

He initially joined the war effort in July 1915 as a member of the 12th Light Horse In the AIF, serving in the Middle East. He transferred to the RFC in 1916 as a mechanic before attending flight school and joining the AFC in October 1917, where he rapidly distinguished himself. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in September 1918 and the Distinguished Service Order in 1919. He left the AFC in August 1919, and began to work as a mechanic in the early 1920s.

At the beginning of World War II in 1939, he joined up with the AFC again, but died of cerebral oedema whilst training in Australia on 28 November 1941.