Arthur Coningham (RAF officer)

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Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham KCB KBE DSO MC DFC AFC RAF (11 March, 1895 – 29 or 30 January 1948) was a senior Royal Air Force commander.

Sir Arthur Coningham was the Air Officer Commander-in-Chief 2nd Tactical Air Force and subsequently the Air Officer Commander-in-Chief Flying Training Command.

Air Marshal Conningham was aboard the BSAA Avro Tudor airliner Star Tiger when it disappeared in what became known as the Bermuda Triangle, in 1948.

Born in Australia but brought up in New Zealand, he was declared medically unfit for further service on return from Egypt. Not content to sit out the rest of the war, he traveled to England and applied to join the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). It was during this period of his career that he gained the nickname 'Mary', often thought to be a contraction of 'Māori', by which he was to known throughout the rest of his life. By the end of WWI , Coningham had been credited with 19 enemy aircraft destroyed. In 1920, he and fellow instructor, Gerald Gibbs (later Air Marshal Gerald Gibbs) took part in the first Hendon Pageant flying a display in Sopwith Snipes and in 1921 he was part of a five man team from the Central Flying School.

Whilst serving in Egypt in 1925, he led an expedition from Helwan in the Canal Zone to Kano in Nigeria thereby pioneering the route that would be used from 1941 to re-supply the Desert Air Force (DAF) which he would be commanding at that time. As commander of the Desert Air Force he developed a highly efficient mobile force, which could give direct support to the Army just about anywhere and at anytime required. Much of the work carried out and the experience gained by the DAF would be put to good use in the build up to the Normandy Invasion. Following the end of hostilities he was not seen as a suitable commander for an Air Force of Occupation and as a result he was replaced by ACM Sir William Sholto Douglas.

Seeing this appointment almost as a snub and a 'demotion', he retired at his own request in 1947. In Jan 1948, he was traveling from Britain to South America aboard the BSAA Avro Tudor IV Star Tiger on a business trip. However, after leaving the over night stop-over at Lisbon, nothing was heard from the aircraft and no trace of it or any of the crew and passengers was ever found.