Captain Arthur Clunie Randall was a World War I flying ace

Flying ace

A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...

 credited with 10 aerial victories. After earning a Distinguished Flying Cross during the war, he remained in military service until 1926.

Early life

Arthur Clunie Randall was born in Paisley, Scotland on 6 February 1896. When he enlisted in the military, he was living in Bothwell

Bothwell

Bothwell is a small town in the South Lanarkshire council area of Scotland. It lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, adjacent to Uddingston and Hamilton, nine miles east-south-east of Glasgow city centre....

, Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...

, Scotland.

World War I

On 13 November 1914, Randall was among cadets and ex-cadets of the Officers Training Corps

Officers Training Corps

The Officer Training Corps is a part of the British Army which provides military leadership training to students at UK universities...

 appointed as temporary second lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

s in the infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

.

On 30 November 1916, he transferred to the General List of the Royal Flying Corps

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

. By January 1917, he was posted to 32 Squadron as an Airco DH.2

Airco DH.2

|-DH.2 aces:Distinguished pilots of the DH.2 included Victoria Cross winner Lanoe Hawker , who was the first commander of No 24 Squadron and ace Alan Wilkinson. The commander of No. 32 Squadron, Lionel Rees won the Victoria Cross flying the D.H.2 for single handedly attacking a formation of 10...

 pilot; he scored his first aerial victory with them on 23 January. He would score one more win with them, being wounded in the process, on 11 March 1917. On 3 June 1917, he was appointed a Flight Commander with the rank of temporary captain.

His second combat tour was as a fighter pilot with 85 Squadron, flying a Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a. This time around, he scored another eight aerial victories, culminating in the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross near war's end. His citation read simply:

Post World War I

On 1 August 1919, Randall was appointed an acting captain in the reorganized RAF.

He served in the Baltic during the aftermath of World War I

Aftermath of World War I

The fighting in World War I ended in western Europe when the Armistice took effect at 11:00 am GMT on November 11, 1918, and in eastern Europe by the early 1920s. During and in the aftermath of the war the political, cultural, and social order was drastically changed in Europe, Asia and Africa,...

. On 26 March 1920, he was awarded the Cross of Liberty Second Class by the government of Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

.

On 23 December 1926, Flight Lieutenant

Flight Lieutenant

Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...

 Randall was convicted by general courtmartial and dismissed from the Royal Air Force. His fate is unknown after that.

List of aerial victories

No.	Date/time	Aircraft	Foe	Result	Location	Notes
1	23 January 1917 @ 1515 hours	Airco D.H.2	German reconnaissance plane	Destroyed by fire	Ervillers Ervillers Ervillers is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming village situated south of Arras at the junction of the N17, D36 and D9 roads.-History:... , France	Victory shared with Arthur Coningham Arthur Coningham (RAF officer) Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham KCB, KBE, DSO, MC, DFC, AFC, RAF was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. During the First World War, he was at Gallipoli with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, where he became a flying ace... , Frank Billinge Frank Billinge Captain Frank Billinge was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories.Billinge was a founding member of No. 20 Squadron, flying as an observer/gunner in the rear seat of a FE.2b. He scored his first victory there, on 13 February 1916. He was transferred back to Home Establishment... , and three other pilots
2	11 March 1917 @ 1005 hours	Airco D.H.2 serial number A2548	Albatros D.III Albatros D.III The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service and the Austro-Hungarian Air Service during World War I. The D.III was flown by many top German aces, including Manfred von Richthofen, Ernst Udet, Erich Löwenhardt, Kurt Wolff, and Karl Emil Schäfer...	Driven down out of control	Bapaume Bapaume Bapaume is a commune and the seat of a canton in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming and light industrial town located 10 miles south of Arras at the junction of the A1 autoroute and the N17 and N30 national roads its location is... , France
3	18 June 1918 @ 0450 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a fighter s/n B7870	German reconnaissance plane	Destroyed	Voormezeele, Belgium	Victory shared with Alec Reid
4	14 July 1918 @ 0835 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n C1928	Pfalz D.III Pfalz D.III |-See also:-Bibliography:* Gray, Peter and Owen Thetford. German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam, 1962. ISBN 0-93385-271-1.* Grosz, Peter M. Pfalz D.IIIa . Berkhamsted, Herts, UK: Albatros Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-94841-425-1.* Guttman, Jon. Balloon-Busting Aces of World War 1 ...  fighter	Destroyed	North of Merville Merville, Nord -References:*... , France
5	24 July 1918 @ 1045 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n C1931	Fokker D.VII Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the summer and autumn of 1918. In service, the D.VII quickly proved itself to be a formidable aircraft...  fighter	Destroyed	Neuve-Église Neuve-Église Neuve-Église is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*... , France
6	31 July 1918 @ 2005 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n C6454	Albatros reconnaissance plane	Destroyed	Vieille-Chapelle Vieille-Chapelle Vieille-Chapelle is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Vieille-Chapelle is situated some northeast of Béthune and west of Lille, at the junction of the D182 and D172 roads... , France
7	9 August 1918 @ 0755 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n C6454	Albatros reconnaissance plane	Destroyed by fire	Steenwerck Steenwerck Steenwerck is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is located about north of Lille and as of 2003 has a population of 3260.... , France
8	10 August 1918 @ 0640 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n C6454	DFW DFW DFW may refer to:*Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport*Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, a metropolitan area in north Texas*Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources*Division of Fisheries and Wildlife...  reconnaissance plane	Destroyed	Le Touret, France
9	22 August 1918 @ 1650 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n C6454	Fokker D.VII fighter	Driven down out of control	Maricourt Maricourt Maricourt is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France. It is twinned with Brundall, Norfolk, England.-Geography:Maricourt is situated on the D938 road, some southeast of Amiens.-Population:-The Commonwealth Cemetery:... , France
10	4 October 1918 @ 1755 hours	Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a s/n E5487	DFW recon plane	Destroyed	Northwest of Aubencheul-aux-Bois Aubencheul-aux-Bois Aubencheul-aux-Bois is a commune in the department of Aisne in Picardy in northern France.-Population:-References:*... , France

Endnotes

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