Arras Flying Services Memorial

Background

In spring 1916, French troops transferred Arras to British forces. Construction of the British portion of Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery began in March 1916 behind an existing French graveyard. After the Armistice, the cemetery was extended with graves transferred from the battlefield and two smaller graveyards. The French military graves were moved elsewhere, and the vacant land was designated for the Arras Memorial and the Arras Flying Services Memorial. The Arras Memorial commemorates nearly 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and New Zealand who died in the Arras region between spring 1916 and 7 August 1918 with no known grave. The Flying Services Memorial commemorates nearly 1,000 members of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force killed on the Western Front with no known grave.

Unveiling ceremony

The Arras Flying Services Memorial was unveiled on 31 July 1932 by Lord Trenchard, alongside the Arras Memorial. The original date of 15 May had been pushed back because French President Paul Doumer was assassinated earlier that month. At the first ceremony, Lord Trenchard, his wife Lady Trenchard, and their eleven-year-old son Hugh were greeted by the mayor and town council. He then laid a wreath at the local war memorial.

The second ceremony took place inside the apse of the cloister at the Arras Memorial, close to the obelisk. The Royal Air Force bands performed O God, Our Help in Ages Past. Following prayers from the chaplain, Major General Sir Fabian Ware, who founded the Imperial War Graves Commission, spoke to Lord Trenchard and asked him to unveil the memorial. Trenchard delivered a speech and then performed the unveiling.

The chaplain dedicated both memorials, and a hymn was sung. Five aircraft flew in a wide arc around the cemetery, then shifted into a V formation and passed over the monuments. After Monseigneur Henri-Édouard Dutoit, the Bishop of Arras, gave the benediction and prayers, buglers from the 1st Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry played Last Post. Pipers from the 1st Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders followed with The Flowers of the Forest, and the buglers then played Reveille.

The national anthems of France and Britain were played, a procession of floral tributes moved forward, and the ceremony ended.

Notable airmen commemorated on the memorial

Pilots listed on the memorial include Douglas John Bell, awarded the Military Cross and Bar, died 27 May 1918; Francis Cubbon, credited with 21 aerial victories, awarded the Military Cross and Bar, died 9 June 1917; Lanoe Hawker, the first British flying ace with seven victories, awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Victoria Cross, died 23 November 1916 in a duel with Manfred von Richthofen; Louis Fleeming Jenkin, credited with 22 victories, awarded the Military Cross and Bar, died 11 September 1917; Harry George Ernest Luchford, credited with 24 victories, awarded the Military Cross, died 2 December 1917; Mick Mannock, awarded the Military Cross and Bar, Distinguished Service Order and Two Bars, and Victoria Cross, died 26 July 1918; Arthur Rhys-Davids, awarded the Military Cross and Bar and Distinguished Service Order, died 27 October 1917; Frederick Thayre, awarded the Military Cross and Bar, died 9 June 1917; Samuel Frederick Henry Thompson, awarded the Military Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross, died 27 September 1918; and others including Frederick Carr Armstrong, Carleton Main Clement, Valentine Collins, Pruett Dennett, Gordon Budd Irving, Patrick Anthony Langan-Byrne, John Joseph Malone, Alfred Edwin McKay, Maurice Mealing, Guy Borthwick Moore, Guy William Price, Ellis Vair Reid, Alfred Shepherd, Noel Webb, John George Will (Scotland rugby international), and Herbert Gould.