Name
John Kingsley Russell
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
25/01/1942
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Pilot Officer
62287
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
126 Sqdn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MALTA MEMORIAL
Panel 3, Column 1.
Malta
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Tilehouse St. Baptist Church Memorial, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin, Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School Memorial (WW2)
Biography
He attended Hitchin Grammar School from 1929-1938 and obtained the Oxford School Certificate with Honours and was Head Boy of the school and House Captain. He excelled at sports, especially football, hockey, cricket and gymnastics. He then entered the family leather tanning business of G.W. Russell & Son Ltd and was a member of the North Herts Athletic Club and Hitchin Swimming Club. He kept an interest in Scouting and in 1940 was the Scoutmaster of the troop associated with Tilehouse Street Baptist Church. He was described as a typical young Englishman who worked hard and played hard and did both with distinction.
His great ambition in the war was to be a fighter pilot and he joined the R.A.F. in June 1940. In August 1940 he went to Rhodesia for training and at Christmas visited the Victoria Falls. In March 1941 he returned to the United Kingdom with his wings and was commissioned with Service Number 62287. For the next three months he was night flying and fought the heavy raid on London during the night of 10th/11th May 1941.
He received the Freedom of the City of London as a preliminary to obtaining the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers and was admitted to that body on the 18th June 1941.
The following day he went to Malta. He took part in operations as a fighter pilot in 126 Squadron, flying Hurricane 2Cs from Takali Airfield, attacking incoming aircraft and E-Boats and assisting with convoy patrols. On the 19th January 1942 he had also dropped fragmentation bombs on Comiso Airfield. At 11.00hrs on the 25th January 1942 he took off in Hurricane Z.2827 to intercept incoming aircraft and a short time later his plane was nit, caught fire and crashed into the sea. Rescue services found the wreckage of the plane but not his body. A few days before his death, he had written home "I have no regrets and wouldn't have changed anything.".
His father and mother, John Kingsley and Ida Charlotte Russell of ‘Eversley’, Pirton Road, Hitchin, specially purchased a three and a half acre field adjacent to the existing Hitchin Grammar School playing fields as a memorial to their eldest son.
His name is remembered on Panel 3, Column 1 of the R.A.F. War Memorial in Floriana, King's Gate Memorial to the Missing at Valletta in Malta. Mr Peter Russell - his brother.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Hitchin Grammar School Chronicle, Mr Stanley Mincher - former acquaintance, Paul Johnson - local historian, Herts & Beds Express dated 31st Jan 1942
