George Wilbur Wright

George Wilbur Wright was lost at sea aboard Beaufighter VIc JL652 along with 25 year old Flying Officer Douglas Justus Reid (42185) from New Zealand. They took off from RAF East Fortune, Lothian on a training flight but crashed in the North Sea. Neither body was recovered and both men are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Wright on Panel 210 and Reid on Panel 263. 49 Beaufighter aircraft from 132 OTU went down during training.

The Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede commemorates by name over 20,000 men and women of the air forces, who were lost in the Second World War during operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe, and who have no known graves. They served in Bomber, Fighter, Coastal, Transport, Flying Training and Maintenance Commands, and came from all parts of the Commonwealth. Some were from countries in continental Europe which had been overrun but whose airmen continued to fight in the ranks of the Royal Air Force. The memorial was designed by Sir Edward Maufe with sculpture by Vernon Hill. The engraved glass and painted ceilings were designed by John Hutton and the poem engraved on the gallery window was written by Paul H Scott. The Memorial was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 17th October 1953.