Banbury then travelled to England to join the
Royal Naval Air Service, After additional training he was eventually posted to France in March 1917 to serve in No. 9 (Naval) Squadron based at
St. Pol. Flying a
Sopwith Pup single-seat fighter Banbury gained his first aerial victory on 31 May 1917, sharing in the driving down out of control of a German two-seater reconnaissance aircraft over
Ostend. The following day he drove down a
Halberstadt reconnaissance aircraft solo. His squadron were then re-equipped with the
Sopwith Camel fighter, and in one of these Banbury shared in the driving down of another reconnaissance aircraft off
Westende on 25 July. Banbury gained three more aerial victories in September, accounting for an
Albatros reconnaissance aircraft and two
Albatros D.V fighters. going on to gain three more victories over enemy aircraft that month. He was granted the
acting rank of
flight commander on 9 November, and gained his tenth victory on the 23rd. Banbury returned to Canada
on leave in December 1917, before returning to England in February 1918, and then to his unit in France in March. He gained his eleventh and final victory, sharing in the capture of a reconnaissance aircraft near
Becelaere, on 26 March. Banbury's award of the
Distinguished Service Cross "in recognition of services at Dunkirk" was
gazetted posthumously on 23 April 1918. Banbury is buried in grave "III.E.5." in Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery,
Nord, France. He is also memorialized in Regina, Canada.
List of aerial victories ==Endnotes==