Captain Arthur Whitehair Vigers MC, DFC (20 January 1890 – September 1968) was a British World War I flying ace credited with 14 aerial victories.
[7] He received a mention in despatches for "gallant and distinguished service in the field" from Field-Marshal John French, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in France on 30 November 1915,[8] and on 14 January 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross.
He shot down three in August,[4] and was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain on 1 September,[14] going on to account for six more aircraft that month.
87 Squadron after the Armistice, receiving a second mention in despatches from Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig on 16 March 1919,[16] and was again appointed a temporary captain on 1 May 1919.
[18] On 15 December 1919 Vigers announced his intention to make the first flight over the Bass Strait, from Melbourne to Launceston, Tasmania, in a Sopwith Gnu.
[25][26][27] By June Vigers had recovered from his injuries, and took his Sopwith Gnu with three passengers to an altitude of 15,200 feet (4,600 m), setting an Australian record for an aeroplane carrying more than one person.
[28][29] In August Vigers set off in his Sopwith Gnu on a two-week tour of Victoria with Howard Jolley and Dr J. Webb from the Life Insurance Company of Australia as passengers.
He and Air Mechanic G. Held successfully flew their Airco DH.9 from Sydney to Adelaide,[33] but on the return flight crashed at Jerrawa near Yass.
[36][37] In November 1925 he was working for the West Australian Mail Service, taking part in the transportation by air of a body from Fitzroy Crossing on a 2,000-mile (3,200 km) flight to Perth, Western Australia, for burial.