Battle of Britain: Casualties R.A.F. or Fleet Air Arm during the period 10 July to 31 October 1940

Battle of Britain London Monument - F/Lt. I J Muirhead
The Airmen's Stories - F/Lt. I J Muirhead


Ian James Muirhead was born in 1913 at West Ham, East London, his family later moving to Carlisle. He was educated at Nelson School, Wigton.

He joined the RAF in September 1929 as an Aircraft Apprentice and passed out in August 1932.

He later applied for pilot training and was selected. Before the war Muirhead was serving with 151 Squadron. He was promoted to Flight Sergeant on 24th October 1939 and commissioned in April 1940.

Muirhead was shot down and killed by Me109's over Maidstone on 15th October 1940. His Hurricane, N2546, crashed at Spekes Bottom, Darland, near Gillingham.

 

Interesting in that he has a civil death registration record

England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
Name: Ian J Muirhead
Death Age: 27
Birth Date: abt 1913
Registration Date: Oct 1940
[Nov 1940]
[Dec 1940]
Registration Quarter: Oct-Nov-Dec
Registration District: Medway
Inferred County: Kent
Volume: 2a
Page: 2406

Wonder what states as cause of death

 

He is bound to have one . It’ll say “ death due to war operations “or “multiple injuries sustained as the result of an aircraft crash “

 

Battle of Britain London Monument - F/Sgt. E E Williams


Battle of Britain Hurricane excavation called off -
A History and Honour news article
31 July 2007

Attempts by an MoD team of engineers, firefighters and scientists to locate a Battle of Britain pilot and his aircraft shot down over Kent in 1940, have been abandoned after the presumed crash site revealed little more than a broken-up barge. Report by Steve Willmot

Hopes that the team had located the last resting place of Flight Sergeant Eric Williams faded after a mass of metal at the site was found four meters down at the site in Gravesend, Kent. A wheel which might have been from the Hurricane's tail section that would have sheered off at the moment of impact was all that was recovered. Project leader Wing Commander David Lainchbury, Officer Commanding the Defence Fire Services Central Training Establishment (DFSCTE) at Manston in Kent said:

It was a huge disappointment. An enormous amount of planning and resourcing went into locating the last resting place of Flight Sergeant Williams, partly due to the fact that it is believed he was the last remaining Battle of Britain pilot still to be recovered from British soil. The disappointment at not finding him means the mystery of his last resting place endures. We wanted to help ensure that this long-lost hero of the Battle of Britain received the recognition he deserved and be afforded an appropriate final resting place. Sadly after three days effort we were not able to locate him or his aircraft.
The Airmen's Stories - F/Sgt. E E Williams


Eric Edward Williams, from Taplow, Buckinghamshire was born in 1912 and educated locally. He joined the RAF from school in 1928 as an Aircraft Apprentice and passed out in 1931. He was accepted for pilot training in 1934 and by 1939 was with 29 Squadron at Debden.

 

He was killed on 7th October when he overturned attempting a forced-landing at Colliers End in Hurricane V7417.

Jerzy Sergiusz Zaluski was born on 16th August 1916 in Riazan, Russia. He enlisted in the Polish Air Force and after completing his training joined the 4th Air Regiment at Copernicus.
Zaluski is buried in Northwood Cemetery and is also commemorated on the Polish War Memorial at Northolt.

Photo from m collection





Battle of Britain London Monument - Sgt. J Zaluski

 

PORUCZNIK ALEKSANDER ZUKOWSKI
Service Number: P/1292
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Polish Air Force

302 Sqdn.

Date of Death
Died 18 October 1940

Age 29 years old

Buried or commemorated at
NORTHWOOD CEMETERY

Service Section

H Grave 297.

United Kingdom

• Country of Service Polish

from my photo collection

 

PORUCZNIK JAN BOROWSKI
Service Number: P/0250
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Polish Air Force

302 Sqdn.

Date of Death
Died 18 October 1940

Age 28 years old

Buried or commemorated at
NORTHWOOD CEMETERY

Service Section H Grave 269.

United Kingdom
Country of ServicePolish

from my photo collection

 

Aleksander Zukowski (1911-1940) - Find A Grave...
Aleksiej (Alexander) Zukowski was born on 28th March 1911 in Vilnius, Poland. He was a member of the Vilnius Aeroclub and completed gliding and powered flying training there. He enlisted in the Polish Air Force and enterd the Aviation Officers School in Deblin.
On graduating he was assigned to 151 Squadron of the 5th Air Regiment.
He later was posted to the flying school at Bydgoszcz as an instructor. After the September 1939 campaign he passed through Romania to France.
He joined the Armee de l'Air and was assigned to Fighter Squadron I/145, composed of Poles flying the obsolete Caudron C714. He flew from Lyon-Bron and Dreux. He claimed a Do17 destroyed on 10th June. With the French collapse imminent, he was evacuated by ship from La Rochelle to England.



Jan Borowski (1912-1940) - Find A Grave Memorial
Jan Borowski flew with the Warsaw Fighter Brigade in the Polish campaign and, flying a PZL P11c, claimed a Me109 destroyed on 1st September 1939 and shared a Do17 and a He111 on the 6th.
Escaping through Romania he arrived in France and served with GC III/6, flying MS406 aircraft from Le Luc, south of Dranguignan.
The Group was withdrawn to Algiers from where the Polish airmen made their way via Casablanca and Gibraltar to the UK. Borowski was posted to 5 OTU Aston Down where he converted to Hurricanes. He joined 302 Squadron at Northolt on 17th October 1940.
The next day, in very poor weather, his Hurricane P3930 WX-X crashed and burnt out while attempting to land on Kempton Park racecourse. It is thought that he may have struck a barrage balloon or its cable. F/O PEG Carter was also killed.
Borowski was 28 and is buried in Northwood Cemetery and commemorated on the Polish War Memorial at Northolt.
Biography copied from Battle of Britain London monument website.
Contributor: Alun N (50229849)

 

PORUCZNIK JAN BURY-BURZYMSKI
Service Number: P/0236
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Polish Air Force

303 Sqdn.

Date of Death
Died 24 October 1940

Age 25 years old

Buried or commemorated at
LECONFIELD (ST. CATHERINE) CHURCHYARD

War Graves Group Row A Grave 5.

United Kingdom
Country of Service Polish

GENUKI: Leconfield Churchyard gravestones etc., Yorkshire (East Riding)

 

Name: BLAKE, ARTHUR GILES
Initials: A G
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sub-Lieutenant (A) (Pilot)
Regiment/Service: Royal Navy
Unit Text: H.M.S. Daedalus (Fleet Air Arm)
Secondary Regiment: Royal Air Force
Secondary Unit Text: attd. 19 Sqdn.
Age: 23
Date of Death: 29/10/1940
Additional information: Son of John Henry Laws Blake and Mary Jayne Blake.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Row 13. Grave 3.
Cemetery: LANGLEY MARISH (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD

 

England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
Name: Arthur G Blake
Death Age: 23
Birth Date: abt 1917
Registration Date: Oct 1940
[Nov 1940]
[Dec 1940]
Registration Quarter: Oct-Nov-Dec
Registration District: Chelmsford
Inferred County: Essex
Volume: 4a
Page: 1363

Birth 16 Sep 1917 Tynemouth, Northumberland, England
Residence 1939 Tamworth, Staffordshire, England
Death 29 Oct 1940 Chelmsford, Essex, England
Father John Henry Laws Blake (1871-1942)
Mother Mary Jayne Carson (1875-1968)


Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Giles “Admiral” Blake...


Battle of Britain London Monument - Sub/Lt.(FAA) A G Blake
Arthur Giles Blake was born in 1917 in Northumberland and educated at Slough Grammar SchooL He passed through the Royal Naval College, Greenwich and joined the Fleet Air Arm, gained his wings in January 1940. His first posting was HMS Daedalus, a shore station at Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire.
On 15th June 1940 he was one of the FAA pilots attached to the RAF and he first attended 7 OTU, Hawarden, to convert to Spitfires. On 1st July 1940 Blake joined 19 Squadron at Duxford, where his colleagues gave him the nickname 'Admiral'.
On 3rd September Blake damaged a Me110, on the 9th he destroyed a He111, on the 15th he destroyed a Me109, shared a He111 and damaged a Do17 and on the 17th he destroyed two more Me109's.
Blake was acting as weaver during a patrol over South London on 29th October 1940, when he was shot down and killed, probably picked off by a Me109. His Spitfire, P7423, flew on for some time before crashing in London Road, Chelmsford.

Spitfire windscreen flown by Sub. Lt. Arthur Giles Blake.
Spitfire windscreen flown by Sub. Lt. Arthur Giles Blake.
The bullet came from behind the pilot's head and pierced his helmet before hitting the windscreen. The bullet was fired from a Heinkel. Despite this Blake could still see through the windscreen and shot down the Heinkel.
RAF Museum Colindale.


A Royal Navy Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain – Sub Lieutenant (A) Arthur Blake, Fleet Air Arm, at No.19 Squadron RAF

 

FLYING OFFICER ROBERT LESLEY EDWARDS
Service Number: C/903
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Royal Canadian Air Force

1 Sqdn.

Date of Death
Died 26 August 1940

Age 28 years old

Buried or commemorated at
BROOKWOOD MILITARY CEMETERY
3. C. 1A.

United Kingdom

Photographer: Ian Small

• Country of Service Canadian
• 
  

 

Battle of Britain London Monument - P/O D N O Jenkins.

On 16th May 1940 Jenkins flight of 253 was sent to France to reinforce the Hurricane squadrons there. On the 18th he took part in an interception of a force of Do17s, escorted by Me110s. He destroyed a Me110 and damaged another but his aircraft was then hit and damaged by return fire. Jenkins managed to make a forced-landing at Glisy.

Returning from Aldergrove to Turnhouse on 7th August Jenkins got into difficulties whilst flying in cloud at night. He baled out and landed at Fail Mains Farm, a half-mile from where his Hurricane, P3457, crashed, five miles east of Prestwick.

On 30th August 1940 Jenkins was shot down in combat over Redhill. He baled out but is believed to have been killed in his harness by enemy fighters. His Hurricane, P3921, crashed at Butlers Dene Road, Woldingham.

Jenkins is buried in St Margaret’s churchyard, Bagendon, Gloucestershire.