Alfred Atkey

Atkey was born in Toronto, Ontario, on 16 August 1894, the second of five children born to Alfred Atkey, a builder and farmer, and his wife Annie Evelyn (née Shaw). His grandfather, also Alfred, was born in Newport, Isle of Wight, in 1848, and had emigrated to Canada with his parents in the 1850s. In 1906, his family moved west to Nunebor, Saskatchewan. Atkey later returned to Toronto to work for the Toronto Evening Telegram as a journalist. ==Military service==

Atkey enlisted into the British Army, joining the 2/24th Battalion, London Regiment, a Territorial Force unit that was stationed in England until sent to France in June 1916. On 19 October Atkey was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Flying Corps, and was confirmed in his rank in September 1917. He was then posted to No. 18 Squadron to fly the Airco DH.4 day bomber. He and his gunners claimed nine victories between 4 February and 21 April 1918. He was then transferred to No. 22 Squadron to fly the Bristol F.2b fighter/reconnaissance aircraft in "A" Flight, paired with Lieutenant Charles George Gass as his gunner/observer. On 7 May Atkey and Gass took part in an historic dogfight north-east of Arras, known as the "Two Against Twenty", when Atkey and Gass, with John Gurdon and Anthony Thornton, fought twenty German scout aircraft. Atkey and Gass shot down five enemy aircraft while Gurdon and Thornton accounted for three. Two days later, Atkey and Gass again shot down five enemy aircraft in a single day. Atkey claimed a further 19 aircraft between 15 May and 2 June, ==Post-war life==

In March 1919, Atkey married Irene E. Marshall (b. 1900 in London, England) in Portsmouth, Hampshire. They moved to the United States, and in 1920 were resident in Brooklyn, New York. ==References==