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Name: Roy Edward Dodds
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)
Country: United States
Rank: Captain
Service: Royal Flying Corps
Royal Air Force
Units: 103, 106 (RAF)
Victories: 7
Born: 19 July 1893
Place of Birth: Buffalo, New York, USA
Died: 02 April 1965
Place of Death: Detroit, Michigan, USA
Cemetery: Victoria Memorial Cemetery, Windsor, Ontario, Canada Image
 
 
In 1916 Roy Edward Dodds went to Canada to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps. Posted to 103 Squadron on 26 May 1918, he downed 7 German aircraft as a D.H.9 pilot. Post-war he sold automobiles in Detroit, Michigan and served as a pilot instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Plagued by ill health, with no family and little income, Dodds died alone in a boarding house room in Detroit, Michigan. He was 72. When no one claimed his body at the local morgue, the Canadian Legion of Detroit stepped forward and had arranged for his burial.
 
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)
Lieut. (A./Capt.) Roy Edward (FRANCE)
   An officer who possesses high courage combined with great power of leadership. He has taken part in sixty bombing raids far over enemy territory, a large number of which he has led. In addition, he has carried out a number of successful photographic reconnaissances, frequently meeting and overcoming strong hostile aerial resistance. In the course of these nights he has destroyed four enemy machines, and his observer has accounted for three others. A fine achievement, for the machine he flies is designed for heavy bombing and long reconnaissance rather than for aerial combats.
 
Victories
Date Time Unit Aircraft Opponent Location
1 04 Jul 1918 2030 103 D.H.9 (C6150) 1 Pfalz D.III (OOC) La Bassée
2 10 Aug 1918 1815 103 D.H.9 (C2877) 2 Fokker D.VII (OOC) Péronnes
3 10 Aug 1918 1815 103 D.H.9 (C2877) 2 Fokker D.VII (OOC) Péronnes
4 11 Aug 1918 1900 103 D.H.9 (C2877) 2 Fokker D.VII (OOC) Estaires
5 11 Aug 1918 1900 103 D.H.9 (C2877) 2 Fokker D.VII (OOC) Estaires
6 25 Aug 1918 0900 103 D.H.9 (C2877) 2 Fokker D.VII (OOC) Pernes
7 30 Oct 1918 0955 103 D.H.9 (E8884) 2 Fokker D.VII (OOC) Mainvault

1 Observer 2Lt John Bernard Russell
2 Observer 2Lt Irving Corey
 
Books
American Aces of World War 1
by Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey (Illustrator) / Paperback / Osprey Publishing (September 25, 2001)
Over the Front
by Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey / Hardcover / Grub Street the Basement (May 1992)
 
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