Elwyn Roy King, DSO, DFC (13 May 1894 – 28 November 1941) was a fighter ace in the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) during World War I.

He achieved twenty-six victories in aerial combat, making him the fourth highest-scoring Australian pilot of the war, and second only to Harry Cobby in the AFC.

He joined the RAAF following the outbreak of World War II and held several training commands, rising to the rank of group captain shortly before his sudden death in November 1941 at the age of forty-seven.

Having been employed repairing bicycles, automobiles, and farming equipment, he was living in Forbes and working as a motor mechanic when he joined the Australian Imperial Force under the name Roy King on 20 July 1915.

[1][2] On 5 October 1915, King embarked for Egypt aboard HMAT Themistocles, as part of the reinforcements for the 12th Regiment of the 4th Light Horse Brigade.

4 Squadron was operating its Sopwith Camels in hazardous, low-altitude support of Australian ground troops when King arrived in France, and he had little opportunity for air-to-air combat.

[1][9] The burly 6-foot-5-inch (196 cm) King—nicknamed "Bo", "Beau", or "Bow"—also had problems landing the Camel; crammed into its small cockpit, his large frame impeded control stick movement.

4 Squadron found that two-man patrols were generally able to lure enemy aircraft into a fight, whereas larger formations tended to deter engagements.

[13] On 14 May 1918, King shot down a two-seat German scout that was spotting for artillery between Ypres and Bailleul, but clouds prevented him from confirming its destruction.

[7] On 20 June, he destroyed a German balloon over Estaires; although vulnerable to attack with incendiary bullets, these large observation platforms were generally well protected by fighters and anti-aircraft defences, and were thus considered a dangerous but valuable target.

4 Squadron was heavily engaged in the Allies' great offensive on the Western Front, launched with the Battle of Amiens on 8 August.

[23] On 16 August 1918, King participated in a major assault against the German airfield at Haubourdin, near Lille, that resulted in thirty-seven enemy aircraft being destroyed on the ground.

During the action, described by the official history as a "riot of destruction", King set on fire a hangar housing four or five German planes.

2 Squadron pilot Charles Copp, flew down Haubourdin's main street, waving as he went, his reason being that "the girls in that village must have had a heck of a time with all that bombing and must have been terribly scared so I thought I'd cheer them up a bit".

The official history recorded that on 25 August, "King went out alone as far as Don railway station, bombed it, machine-gunned a train, and returned among the low clouds—all without seeing any enemy.

[30] The award, promulgated in The London Gazette on 3 December, cited his "gallant and valuable service in bombing and attacking with machine gun fire enemy billets, trains, troops etc", during which "he ensure[d] success by descending to low altitudes, disregarding personal danger".

[35][36][37] At Tournai, amid a confrontation involving over seventy-five Allied and German fighters, King evaded five enemy Fokkers that dived on him, before destroying an LVG in a head-on attack.

[10][41] This made him second only to Harry Cobby as the most successful ace in the AFC, as well as the fourth most successful of all the Australian aces in the war (his top-scoring compatriots, Robert Little and Roderic (Stan) Dallas, flew with the British Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force).

[2][20] He left the AFC on 11 August 1919 in Melbourne, before gaining employment as an air courier for Larkin-Sopwith Aviation Co. of Australasia Ltd, which had been co-founded by fighter ace Herbert Larkin.

[51][52] By April 1922, working with Larkin-Sopwith's successor, Larkin Aircraft Supply Co. Ltd, King was reported as having safely flown 2,000 passengers and 48,000 miles (77,000 km) throughout Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

3 EFTS initially comprised a significant civilian presence, many of the aircraft and staff under King's control being from private airline companies and the Royal Victorian Aero Club; by July, all private machines had been pressed into RAAF service and the civilian element largely disappeared.

1 Service Flying Training School at RAAF Point Cook, Victoria, from Group Captain John McCauley on 7 July 1941.

[58] In October, King was promoted to acting group captain and posted to command the newly established Station Headquarters Point Cook.