The Airmen's Stories - F/O D D Brown

F/O De Peyster Douw Brown, an American citizen, was born on 12th December 1915 in Canton, China, the son of Samuel Robbins Brown (1882-1947) and Rebecca Sevilla Brown (nee Atkinson 1882-??).

His parents were missionaries.

Brown joined the Royal Canadian Air Force claiming to be of Canadian nationality on 9th September 1939. As such he was posted to 112 (RCAF) Squadron.

On arrival in England he was sent to 5 OTU Aston Down to convert to Hurricanes and then to 1 (RCAF) Squadron at Northolt on 2nd September 1940.

On 27th September 1940 he claimed a Ju88 destroyed and shared another.

On 5th October he was badly shot up in combat with Me109s but nevertheless pursued one into cloud, being later credited with a 'damaged'. His own aircraft crashed on landing back at Northolt but he was uninjured.

He transferred to the newly-formed 'Eagle' squadrons of the US Army Air Force in England on 25th May 1942.

He remained serving for twelve years after the end of WW2 and after the war was involved with the Berlin Airlift and possibly served in Korea.

Brown died in Santa Maria, California on 3rd August 1991.