Richard Joseph "Dick" Audet (13 March 1922 – 3 March 1945) was a Canadian

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

ace An ace is a playing card, Dice, die or domino with a single Pip (counting), pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit (cards), suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large a ...

during

World War II 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 opposin ...

. In his first contact with enemy aircraft on 29 December 1944 he destroyed five planes. By the end of January 1945 he had claimed a further five victories and shared a sixth. He was killed in action on 3 March 1945 near

Coesfeld Coesfeld (; Westphalian: ''Koosfeld'') is the capital of the district of Coesfeld in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. History Coesfeld received its city rights in 1197, but was first recorded earlier than that in the biography of St ...

, Germany.

Childhood

Audet was born on 13 March 1922 in

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, the youngest and sixth child of Paul and Edewisca Audet who were both born in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He grew up on the family ranch, in the Milk River valley, about two miles east of " Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park". With the exception of one year at Milk River Valley School he received all of his education to grade twelve in

Coutts, Alberta Coutts ( ) is a village in southern Alberta, Canada that is a port of entry into the U.S. state of Montana. It is one of the busiest ports of entry on the Canada–United States border in western Canada. It connects Highway 4 to Interstate 15, ...

. He was an outstanding athlete and loved all sports including hockey, basketball, and baseball. He was offered a position in Lethbridge to instruct and coach these sports, but he made up his mind to become a pilot. Too young to enlist, he attended business college in Lethbridge in 1940–41, then worked as a stenographer and bookkeeper at the air force base at

High River High River is a town within the Calgary Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. It is approximately south of Calgary, at the junction of Alberta Highways 2 and 23. High River had a population of 14,324 in 2021. History The community take ...

Airforce career

Audet enlisted for service in the

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) on 7 August 1941 and received his pilot's wings in October 1942. He was then posted to the UK where he received five months of advanced operational training followed by non-fighter operations. During this time he met and married Iris Gibbins from

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

. On 20 September 1944, he was transferred to a RCAF Spitfire Unit, 411 Squadron. Later that year on 29 December, piloting a Spitfire IXe he destroyed two Bf 109s and three Fw 190s in five to seven minutes over Osnabrück. This action earned him a promotion to

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

and he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). On 3 March 1945, Flight Lieutenant Audet was strafing a German train west of

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

. The train returned fire and Audet's Spitfire crashed to the ground. There is some uncertainty as to whether he died in the crash or was captured, but his body was never recovered. Audet had flown more than 50 combat sorties and added a

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

to his DFC. In addition he was awarded the 1939-45 Star,

Air Crew Europe Star The Air Crew Europe Star is a military campaign medal, instituted by the United Kingdom in May 1945 for award to British and Commonwealth air crews who participated in operational flights over Europe from bases in the United Kingdom during the S ...

with Clasp,

France and Germany Star The France and Germany Star is a military campaign medal, instituted by the United Kingdom in May 1945 for award to British Commonwealth forces who served in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands or Germany and adjacent sea areas between ...

, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939–1945 and

Canadian Volunteer Service Medal The Canadian Volunteer Service Medal is granted to persons of any rank in the Naval, Military or Air Forces of Canada who voluntarily served on Active Service from September 3, 1939, to March 1, 1947. The medal was established on October 22, 1943 ...

with Clasp.

Memorials

Flight Lieutenant Richard Joseph Audet has no known grave and his name is recorded on panel 278 of the Air Forces Memorial, or Runnymede Memorial, in England. and the Lethbridge cenotaph. His mother and wife both received a

Memorial Cross A memorial cross (sometimes called an intending cross) is a cross-shaped memorial to commemorate a special event or an incident, typically where one or more people died. It may also be a simple form of headstone to commemorate the dead. File I ...

in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Audet, Richard Canadian World War II pilots Canadian World War II flying aces 1922 births 1945 deaths Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) People from Lethbridge Canadian military personnel killed in World War II Aviators killed by being shot down Royal Canadian Air Force officers Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II Canadian military personnel from Alberta

Childhood

Airforce career

Memorials

Further reading

References