Robert Roy Wilson

Shortly after Bob Wilson graduated from Moncton High School, he took flying lessons. He was recruited by the RAF in Montreal in 1938 and became a commissioned pilot that same year. He went on to distinguish himself in the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk, when he destroyed two enemy aircraft.

In one day during the Battle of Britain, Pilot Officer Wilson had to avoid British Spitfires that mistook his Hurricane for an enemy aircraft, all the while fighting German planes as well. Wilson shot down one aircraft and then dove to avoid an approaching Spitfire. He managed to signal the Spitfire that his was a friendly aircraft and then rejoined the pursuit of German planes. He went on to shoot down another plane, but no one saw it crash and it remained unconfirmed.

Less than a month later, quite literally a lifetime for many pilots in the Battle of Britain, Wilson’s Hurricane disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean and was presumed to have been shot down. He was 20 years old when he disappeared August 11, 1940. Wilson is remembered on the Runnymede Memorial.

For more on Robert Roy Wilson, see also, "Battle of Britain. Remembering Moncton's brave pilots", by Tanya Strang, Moncton Times & Transcript, Saturday, September 16, 2000.