Arthur Brooks; Ace Fighter Pilot in World War I
Arthur Raymond Brooks, a World War I ace who shot down six planes and whose fighter is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, died Wednesday at 95.
Brooks was the last surviving American ace from the war, said retired Army Col. J. Duncan Campbell of Harrisburg, Pa., a World War I aviation expert.
Brooks flew into battle for the first time in the summer of 1918. He shot down six German Fokkers during the war, according to the American Fighter Aces Assn. in Mesa, Ariz.
His Spad XIII biplane was restored and is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
Brooks worked at Bell Labs in New Jersey for decades after World War I, developing electronic air navigation and communications systems.
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