Arthur George Joseph "Arch" Whitehouse , M.M. was a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veteran and author of First World War aviation books.

Biography

Arthur George J. Whitehouse was born in England, but lived in

Montvale, New Jersey Montvale is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 7,844,Northamptonshire Yeomanry The Northamptonshire Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1794 as Volunteer Force (Great Britain), volunteer cavalry. It served in the Second Boer War, the World War I, First World War and the World War II, Second World ...

# 1784. He then transferred to the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

# 78563. He was with the Northamptonshire Yeomanry again # 145871, then transferred to the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

# 401090

Service

He was a 1st Class Air mechanic and Observer with the

No. 22 Squadron RAF Number 22 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is an operational testing and evaluation squadron for all the Joint Helicopter Command helicopter types including Chinook, Puma HC2, Merlin HC4, Apache and Wildcat AH1. Formerly the Rotary Wing Op ...

. On 13 April 1917 Whitehouse and his pilot Bush were brought down by anti-aircraft fire; Whitehouse believed afterward that the

Red Baron Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

mistakenly listed Whitehouse/Bush among the Barons's "credits"-although this was not so. For taking part in shooting down German aircraft and airplane raiding missions, he was awarded the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

with the RFC in November 1917. During the last part of World War I he was undergoing training in England as a pilot in

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

s. As of 28 September 1919 he was a 2nd lieutenant transferred to the Unemployed List. A notation on his Medal card noted he was awarded the

British War Medal The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the First World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in si ...

and British Victory Medal.
Contrary to reports that he brought down 16 enemy aircraft and 6 balloons, Whitehouse was never an ace, although he took part in the shooting down of four enemy aircraft: *12 August 1917-an Albatross DV (burned), with pilot

James Bush (RFC officer) Lieutenant James Cromwell Bush (1 March 1891 – 7 October 1917) was a British World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories. Biography Bush was born in Salisbury, the eldest son of the Reverend Herbert Cromwell Bush, vicar of Seen ...

M.C. *12 August 1917-an Albatross DV (out of control), with pilot

M.C. *2 October 1917-a "Two seater" (destroyed), with pilot

M.C. *10 October 1917-a Albatross DV (destroyed over

Moorslede Moorslede () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Dadizele, Slypskapelle and Moorslede proper. On 1 January 2006, Moorslede had a total population of 10,618. The total area is ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

), with pilot William Meggitt, M.C. Both Bush and Meggit were aces, with 6 credits.

Author

"Arch" Whitehouse was a writer postwar for magazines such as ''

Flying Aces A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

'' on First World War aviation, creating characters like The Griffon, Coffin Kirk, and others. In the 1960s, he wrote a wide range of books, both fiction and non-fiction on aviation and similar military topics. More recently, some of his pulp fiction have been reprinted by several publishers, including

Altus Press Altus Press is a publisher of works primarily related to the pulp magazines from the 1910s to the 1950s. History Founded in 2006 by Matthew Moring, Altus Press publishes collections primarily focussed on series characters, although they also publ ...

Books

*''The Adventures of Coffin Kirk'' (2013) *''Amphibious Operations'' (1963) *Combat in the Sky *''The Complete Adventures of the Griffon'' (3 volumes so far, 2010-2016) *Decisive Air Battles of the First World War *''Espionage and Counterespionage: Adventures in Military Intelligence'' (1964) *''Fighters in the Sky'' (1959) *''Fighting Wings: aerial combat in world war'' (1966) *Fighting Ships *Hero without Honor *Heroes and Legends of World War I *''Heroes of the Sunlit Sky'' (1967) *''Hun Killer:Frank Luke, the Ace from Arizona'' (1966) *''Legion of the Lafayette'' (1962) *Playboy Squadron *Scarlett Streamers *''Squadron 44'' (1965, fiction) *''Squadron Shilling'' (1968, fiction) *''Squadrons of the Sea: The History of Aircraft Carrier Operations'' (1962) *''Subs and Submariners'' *''Tank:The Story of Their Battles and the Men Who Drove Them from Their First Use'' (1960) *The Casket Crew *''The Early Birds the Wonders and Heroics of the First Decades of Flight'' (1965) *''The Fledgling: An Autobiography'' (1964) *The Military Airplane *The Military Airplane Its History and Development *''The Real Book about Airplanes'' (1961) *''The Sky's the Limit: a History of US Airlines'' (1971) *''The Years of the Sky Kings'' (1964) *''The Zeppelin Fighters'' (1966) *Wings for the Chariots *Years of the Warbirds

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehouse, Arch 1895 births 1979 deaths Recipients of the Military Medal Royal Air Force personnel of World War I British emigrants to the United States