Name
John Whittenbury
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sergeant
1805467
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
640 Sqdn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
RUNNYMEDE MEMORIAL
Panel 277.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School Memorial (WW2), National Westminster Bank War Memorial. Hitchin
Biography
He attended the Hitchin Grammar School from 1938-1940 and obtained his School Certificate. He was in the 1st XI at football, hockey and cricket. On leaving school he joined the Hitchin Branch of the Westminster Bank.
He joined up at Easter in 1942 and was given Service Number 1805467 and trained in Canada. In Autumn 1944 and was a Sergeant Observer, he thought he was about to be sent to the Far East but before this could occur he failed to return from an operational flight.
At the time he was in 640 Squadron flying in Halifax VI RG564 C8-P from Leconfield near Hull having taken off at 11.44hrs. His death may have occurred during a raid on the Heligoland Naval Base by 617 Lancasters, 332 Halifaxes and 20 Mosquitoes which turned the area into a crater-pitted moonscape. Three Halifaxes were lost. The other six members of the crew also lost their lives. Six other British aircraft were lost in the raid probably due to flak as no enemy aircraft were involved.
He has no known grave and is remembered on Panel 277 of the Runnymede R.A.F. Memorial to the Missing at Egham in Surrey.
He was the son of Joseph Henry and Ethel Agnes Whittenbury of Nairobi and he lived with his aunt in Welwyn Garden City.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Hitchin Grammar School Chronicle, Mr Peter Sells - school contemporary, ‘Bomber Command Losses’ by W.R. Chorley
