Browse this website Close this menu
This data is related to World War 2
Flying Officer

Leonard Whetton

Service number 172971
Military unit 626 Sqdn Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Address Unknown
Date of birth 11 Dec 1913
Date of death 26 Aug 1944 (31 years old)
Place of birth Sutton in Ashfield
Employment, education or hobbies

Attended Queen Elizabeth School from 1923 to 1929.
In 1939 he was working has a furniture dealer.

Family history

Son of William Henry and Elizabeth Whetton of 115 Chatsworth St, Sutton in Ashfield
In 1939 he married Marjorie Guilor and they lived at 32 Beech Hill Drive, Mansfield.
They had one son, John L Whetton, who was born only a few weeks before his father's death in 1944.

Military history

IBCC: Avro Lancaster I serial number LM140 markings UM-02
Shot down on the return leg by a night fighter flown by Lt Peter Spoden of Stab11/NJG6.
Old Elizabethans Service Roll: After the order to bale out one of the crew succeded in doing so was taken prisoner and he could give no accurate account as to how many crew were alaive when he left the aircraft.
An official German report received through the International Red Cross gave the name of 2 members of crew who lost their lives but doesn't mention F/O Whetton. He was persumed to have lost his life on the August 26th 1944. Post war investigations by the RAF Missing Persons Research and Enquiry Service have received information that he was buried in a civilian cemetery at Geisenheim near Presbery , west of Mainz.
Letters received from the Officer Commanding 626 sqdn and from the relatives of the other members of the crew speak very highly of hs courage and reliability as a pilot and captain and of the great confidence that they had him.
He had 1,660 flying hours to his credit . Whetton joined the forces in December in 1940 and at the time of his death he had performed 28 operational flights including Aachen, Le Harve, Paris, Caen, Stuttgart, Ghent and Ruselsheim.

Extra information

Name on the memorial is spelt as Wetton not Whetton.

Photographs

No photos