Between 10 July and 31 October 1940, six former pupils of Sherborne School lost their lives during what became known as The Battle of Britain:
Aston Maurice Cooper-Key (1918-1940) (School 1932-1933)
Pilot Officer, Royal Air Force, died on 24 July 1940, aged 21. Died during a wartime anti-aircraft training exercise when the engine of the Hurricane P2685 fighter plane he was flying failed. It is believed he tried to land in a park at Normanton, Derby, but when he spotted a group of young children playing there he changed course and crashed attempting a forced-landing on a railway embankment west of Peartree Station, Normanton near Derby.
Geoffrey Kenneth Goût (1916-1940) (School 1929-1933)
Pilot Officer, Royal Air Force, died on 25 July 1940, aged 24. Killed in action when his Spitfire P9493 crashed during a routine night patrol over Portsmouth in a field close to a tin mine shaft at Mawla near Porthtowan, Cornwall.
Harry Lafone Greenshields (1918-1940) (School 1932-1936)
Sub-Lieutenant, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, attached to Royal Air Force, died on 16 August 1940, aged 22. Killed in action during the Battle of Britain when he was shot down by a BF 109 over Calais during combat with 9./JG 54 squadron (‘Teufelstaffel’). His Spitfire N3240 came down in a canal in the Calais suburbs.
Hugh Charles Adams (1918-1940) (The Green 1932-1936)
Pilot Officer, Royal Air Force, died on 6 September 1940, aged 22. Killed in action during the Battle of Britain when, during a patrol, he was shot down at 9.00hrs over Ashford, Kent. His aircraft, Hurricane V6612, crashed at Clavertye, near Elham, Kent.
Carl Raymond Davis DFC (1911-1940) (Westcott 1924-1929)
Flight-Lieutenant, Royal Air Force, died on 6 September 1940, aged 29. Killed in action during the Battle of Britain when his Hawker Hurricane P3363 was shot down by a Messerschmitt BF 109 and crashed into the garden of Canterbury Cottage, Matfield, Brenchley, Kent.
Miles John Miley (1918-1940) (School 1932-1936)
Flying Officer, Royal Air Force, died on 15 September 1940, aged 22. Killed in action when the Beaufighter R2067 he was travelling in crashed near Kenley Airfield, Kent. He was flying as a passenger in Beaufighter R2067 from North Weald, with F/O HMS Lambert as pilot and LAC JP Wyatt as crew. The aircraft crashed near Kenley aerodrome at 6.20 pm and all three men on board were killed.
Other Shirburnians who fought in the Battle of Britain and survived:
William Radclyffe Assheton DFC (1917-2009) (School 1931-1936), Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force, 222 squadron (DFC, wounded).
Peter Kenneth Devitt (1911-1997) (School 1924-1929), Wing-Commander, Royal Air Force, 152 Squadron (despatches).
Ernest Lindsey Hancock DFC (1916-1992) (Westcott 1929-1934), Wing-Commander, Royal Air Force, 609 Squadron (DFC).
Cyril Leslie Page (1916-2003) (day boy & Abbeylands 1930-1934), Wing-Commander, Royal Air Force.
Edward Stanley Smith DFC AFC (1915-1970) (Abbeylands 1928-1933), Wing-Commander, Royal Air Force, 600 Squadron (DFC, AFC).
We will remember them.
See also:
- Online Exhibition: Sherborne School and the Second World War
- Sherborne School WW2 Roll of Honour
- The Bombing of Sherborne on 30 September 1940
- Squadron Leader Peter Devitt and the bombing of Sherborne
- The Battle of Britain Memorial
For further information about the Sherborne School Archives please contact the School Archivist.
Return to the School Archives homepage.