Air Commodore Arthur Dwight Ross (18 March 1907 – 27 September 1981) was a

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

(RCAF) Base Commander of No. 62 Base, No. 6 Group RCAF in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Ross received the George Cross for his actions on the night of 27/28 June 1944 at

RAF Tholthorpe RAF Tholthorpe was a Royal Air Force air station operated by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. The station, which had been opened in the late 1930s as a grass airfield, was located near Easingwold, North Yorkshire, UK. Tholthorpe ...

Early life and career

Arthur Dwight Ross was born 18 March 1907, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. After graduating from the

Royal Military College of Canada '') , established = 1876 , type = Military academy , chancellor = Anita Anand ('' la, ex officio, label=none'' as Defence Minister) , principal = Harry Kowal , head_label ...

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between To ...

in 1928 (student # 1815), he took a commission in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Ross received his pilot's wings at

Camp Borden Canadian Forces Base Borden (also CFB Borden, French: Base des Forces canadiennes Borden or BFC Borden), formerly RCAF Station Borden, is a large Canadian Forces base located in Ontario. The historic birthplace of the Royal Canadian Air Force, C ...

in February 1929.

Second World War

After a few years of aerial surveying and staffing work, Ross was appointed commander of No. 5 (Bomber Reconnaissance) Squadron on Canada's east coast in 1939 where he flew on anti-submarine and convoy escort operations. From August 1940 to March 1942, he worked with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan as the officer commanding No. 3 Service Flying Training School (SFTS), at Currie Field in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. In December 1942, Ross became the Commanding Officer at

RAF Middleton St. George RAF Middleton St George was a Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Bomber Command station during World War II. It was located in County Durham, five miles east of Darlington, England. The station's motto was ''Shield an ...

. In February 1944 he was promoted from Group Captain to Air Commodore and was assigned to command No. 62 Base, No. 6 Group RCAF, headquartered at

RAF Linton-on-Ouse RAF Linton-on-Ouse was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, England, north-west of York. It had satellite stations at RAF Topcliffe and Dishforth Airfield (British Army). The station opened in 1937. With the ...

. While visiting the base's sub-station at

, an incident occurred which earned Ross the George Cross, the highest gallantry award for civilians as well as for military personnel in actions which are not in the face of the enemy. The incident also resulted in awards being earned by other personnel.

George Cross

During the night of 27/28 June 1944, an RCAF Halifax aircraft of 425 Squadron was returning from a

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

raid on a

flying bomb A flying bomb is a manned or unmanned aerial vehicle or aircraft carrying a large explosive warhead, a precursor to contemporary cruise missiles. In contrast to a bomber aircraft, which is intended to release bombs and then return to its base for ...

launching site in northern France. The aircraft struggled back on three engines. Upon landing, the pilot, Sergeant M.J.P. Lavoie, lost control and veered his aircraft into a parked Halifax which was fully loaded with fuel and bombs. The George Cross citation explains the incident in detail: Ross's George Cross citation reads:

Postwar

From 1945 to 1948, Ross commanded the RCAF Staff College in Toronto, Ontario. Until 1961, Ross was Air Commander of the Western Atlantic Area's Canadian Atlantic sub-area of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

's Allied Command Atlantic.NATO Archives, NATO, The First Five Years 1949–1954
Retrieved: 2012-08-12 This command's purpose was to keep the sea lanes open between the United States and Europe during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

Tributes

An air cadet squadron based in

bears his name (No. 58 Air Commodore A. Dwight Ross, GC, CBE, CD Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron).

Dwight Ross School Dwight may refer to: People * Dwight (given name) * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), 34th president of the United States and former military officer *New England Dwight family of American educators, military and political leaders, and authors * ...

Greenwood, Nova Scotia Greenwood is a village located in the western part of Kings County, Nova Scotia, Kings County in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. History Greenwood was a small hamlet south of the Dominion Atlantic Railway's Kingston, Nova Scotia, Kingston S ...

is also named after him.

References

* Coughlin, Tom. ''The Dangerous Sky''. Toronto: The Ryerson Press., 1968. No ISBN. * Roberts, Leslie. ''There Shall Be Wings''. Toronto: Clark, Irwin and Co. Ltd., 1959. No ISBN.
Alumni Profile on Arthur Dwight Ross in e-Veritas

Retrieved: 2012-08-12

External links

No. 58 Air Commodore A. Dwight Ross, GC, CBE, CD Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Arthur Dwight 1907 births 1981 deaths Canadian recipients of the George Cross Canadian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Royal Canadian Air Force officers Royal Military College of Canada alumni Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II Canadian military personnel from Manitoba