The average Battle of Britain pilot was aged between 19 and 26 years old and came from a well to do and privately educated background. The RAF, however also tried to promote on merit and it was by no means unusual for gifted lower class men who had enlisted as mechanics to also achieve the cherished status of becoming a pilot. The above taken from that site, certainly rings true with me. A few years ago, while walking through the local town park in Northampton, I spotted the RAF Wings on a quite large gravestone. Not a CWG but private headstone. I couldn't believe the history in front of me as I was blundering past. A battle of Britain pilot died on 15th September 1940 and next to him another CWG gravestone with a sgt Taylor who died on same day...Unfortunately I never really looked into his demise. The museum in the park houses all things Northampton military if you like...a gem of a place. But nothing in there about him and no one knew anything about the grave. My son was at the time doing his A level history and yes ww2 figured highly in one of his projects...So off he went and did the research for me. Made a pretty good computer display which he included in his final work. Detailing Langley's demise, his bailing out on the 11th, and getting shot down on the 15th, really and truely on of the few who died on a pretty sacred day to some of us. He found out his training camp, his place of birth and even the insurance company he worked for before enlistment. Shot down near gravesend, Thurrock if I remember at approx 12:30 one of the first sqn's 41, to meet the enemy that day. A year later I was taking a pic of the grave when the church curator, usually its doors are shut, asked me what my interest was in the grave...then it turned out Langley was his uncle. Needless to say, my sons cd with his research project found its way into his hands where it belongs. History is all around us, we walk past it every day, and blunder into it on occasions thankfully.
That's whats known as serendipity !! How nice of you to give all that information to his nephew ..... lucky nephew !!
Rafcommands covered him in passing: Sgt D.D.S.Edgar 13-10-1940 - RafCommands Forums As for Langley - his entry in the Men of the Battle of Britain attached:
Thats the one...Been on the site less than 48 hours and I have 2 things personal to me that have brought up interesting stuff. Thanks. Yes, Lanlgey's story is brief as to the overall strategy of ww2. Missed Dunkirk, joined sqn service in the summer, bailed out, and later shot down and killed on BOB day itself. No heroics, no Jingoism involved, just a prime example of the young guys of 1940 rising to the call. I think he typifies the mood of the day as much as the aces of the time. And fitting that he died on the day we now recognise as Battle of Britain day. Sgt Taylor was one I could find little on but now can put a story to that grave as I walk past in the future. Thanks for that one.
I hope this works...Just the opening page that I managed to find from sons BOB project and how it affects local history. Pic of Langley's grave in the file with Taylors cwg next to it.
Not sure if it is of interest, but my Mother was married to John Norris Russell in 1939. I have a photo of John and my Mother on their wedding day. I tried to upload it here, but it says it is invalid file type (even though it is a jpg)
Hi Tony, Welcome to the forum Try saving it as a png, i found they work better for some reason Regards Keith
Hi Keith, Many thanks for the welcome. I have tried both png and gif now and still it tells me "This is not a valid image file". I am using the insert image icon above. Is there any other way to attach a file? Regards Tony
Hi tony, if you go to the go advance at the bottom next to post quick reply and press that, then scroll down to manage attachments, you can then up load your image, strange why it hasn't worked with insert image. It should ok now by doing it this way regards Keith
