Leslie Ernest Clayton
In the 1939 England and Wales Register he is listed as a boot & shoe operative but on leave from the RAF (Derby Centre). So possibly had enlisted and was waiting his posting.
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Son of Ernest and Gladys Clayton, who for a time ran the Midland Hotel next to Mansfield railway station.
Siblings: Barbara Gladys (1920), Harold (1923) and Geoffrey (1926).
Leslie was baptised at Harborne St Peter on 17th December 1916.
Married Iris May Tooth of Sutton Road, Mansfield in 1939. Iris remarried in 1947 to Allan Fell
IBCC: Handley Page Hampden 1, serial number P1332.
On a training cross-country flying exercise. Took off from Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire.
During heavy snow showers and flying below the cloud base at 11:30 hrs the starboard wing hit the ground whilst banking near rhe village f Conington 10 miles NW of Cambridge.
Leslie was a sergeant pilot at the time and 16 OTU was an operational training unit.
Mansfield Chronicle Advertiser: 14/2/1941: Sargeant-Pilot's Death. Well-known in the district.
A Sgt-Pilot of the RAF has passed away. Leslie Ernest Clayton, aged 24, the eldest son of Mr & Mrs E Clayton of 12 Millhill Rd, Derby. They had managed the Midland Hotel, Mansfield from 1932 -1936.
In 1939 he married Iris May, the youngest daughter of Mt & Mrs G H Tooth of "Rostellan" 80 Sutton Road, Mansfield, and their home had been in Chadderston, Derby.
No photos