Bio / Text:
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Arthur George William Gold was born in Pembroke while his father, Job, was station at the barracks there. Job served as a soldier for 25 years with service in the Boer War and WW1, and was stationed at Malta, Jamaica and Bermuda.
Arthur joined the RAF in the 1920s as a boy entrant and his brother John joined as well. Arthur started with service number 365733 reaching the rank of Warrant Officer. Before the war he spent some time in India.
He was commissioned in 1941 and in April that year he volunteered as a test pilot with 103 Maintenance Unit at Aboukir in Egypt.
During 1942 the Luftwaffe started high level reconnaissance flights over North Africa using aircraft based at Kastelli in Crete. The Ju 86 with its pressurised cabin was the highest, beyond the reach of the RAF fighters. 103 MU started modifying the newly arrived Spitfires in an attempt to reach the altitude needed. One change was the tactic of using a ‘striker’ which was lightened by removing the radio accompanied by a ‘marker’ which retained its radio to direct the pair for the interception.
On 6 September Arthur was flying as the marker with Eric Genders as the striker and between them they succeeded in downing a Ju 86, one of only two confirmed destructions by the RAF. 103’s records do not confirm the serial of the marker.
Arthur was rewarded for his war service with an AFC and bar, one of only 26 such pairs.
After the war Arthur stayed in the RAF working at the Air Ministry and serving in Germany ending his career as a Squadron Leader at Rosyth in Scotland.
Credit: much of the detail here comes from the RAF Commands link which includes comment from Arthur’s daughter and his two AFC citations.
Arthur died in 1991. His memorial reads “He served God, his country and his fellow men well.”
