George Thomas King

KING, George Thomas

War
2nd Word War
Date of Birth
Date Attested
Attested at
London - Ontario
Regimental Number
90192
Rank
Flight Sergeant
Date of Death
Age at Death
25 years 9 months
Cenotaph
Biographical Summary

NAME                    KING          George Thomas
RANK                    Flight Sergeant /  Air Observer     90192                                                                                                                    RAF Coastal Command - Group 17                                                                                      SQUADRON         RAF No. 1 Operational Training Unit
                              RAF Silloth Airfield in Cumberland                                                                                          Born                       August 10, 1915 - Wingham - Township of Turnberry - County of Huron                                      Residence             Wingham - Ontario                                                                                                                        Died                       May 24, 1942          25 years   9 months
Memorial               Runnymede Memorial - Englefield Green – Egham - Surrey - England
                              Panel 105
Mother                   Mrs. Adella King - Wingham - Ontario                                                                                  Sisters                   Katherine & mary King - Wingham - Ontario 

George was born on August 10, 1916. The family would have attended St Andrews Presbyterian Church. All his schooling took place at Wingham Public School from 1922-30 and at  Wingham High School from 1930-36. He ended his schooling at the age of 19 years. He was an honours student. As he grew up his hobby was carpentry and he enjoyed tennis, golf, badminton, skiing and skating. He had an appendix removed, he had the measles, mumps and chicken pos as a youngster.  Before enlistment he was employed as a merchant of dry goods for his father George King. He was a member of the Militia with the 99th Field Battery - Royal Canadian Artillery from October 1939-February 1941.

Canada

He enlisted into the Royal Canadian Air Force on February 11, 1941 in London. He received the rank of Aircraftsman 2 and at the time he 5' 7" and weighed 135 pounds. He had a fair complexion with blue eyes and brown hair.He was at the London Recruiting Centre for a short period before being assigned to No. 1 Manning Depot in Toronto - Ontario on February 17 for two weeks before being assigned to No. 4 Manning Depot - Quebec City on April 3 for a short period before being posted to the RCAF Detachment in North Sydney - Nova Scotia on April 9. On May 28 his next posting was to Victoriaville - Quebec to No. 3 Initial Training School and his average was 89% and he was 4 in a class of 31. He received the rank of Leading Aircraftsman. Then it was to No. 10 Air Observer School in Chatham - New Brunswick on July 21 where his average was 74% and he was 7 in a class of 32. He was then heading west to No. 4 Bombing and Gunnery School in Fingal - Ontario on October 11 and here he was 12 in a class of 20 with a 64%. He earned the rank of Sergeant here and received his Air Observer Badge. His next posting was on November 23 to No. 2 Air Navigation School at Pennfield Ridge - New Brunswick where he placed 35 in a class of 54 and had an average of 73%. On December 24 it was east to Halifax and No. 1 "Y" Depot in preparation for going overseas.                                                                              Early in 1942 on January 7 Sergeant King volunteered for the RAF Training Pool and the same day embarked from the shores of Canada and the disembarked in the United Kingdom on July 20. The following day he reported to RAF No. 3 Personnel Reception Centre in Bournemouth - Dorset. He is here for a period of time before being posted to RAF No. 3 School of General Reconnaissance based at RAF Squires Gate - Lancashire on February 14.

In the Field

His second posting in the United Kingdom was two months later to RAF No. 1 Operational Training Unit based at RAF Silloth - Cumbria.                                                                                                                                                The mission for May 24 was to be a navigational exercise and HudsonMk V   AM 794 lifted from the runway at 10;12 am. Flight Sergeant King was the Observer on this exercise. The path of this exercise was to fly to South Stack - to Kish Light - to Nardsey Island - to Arklow Buoy - then back to Silloth.  The crew sent their position at 11:27 am. At 11:50 am they radioed the visibility was 6 miles. At 11:51 they messaged their position. The pilot Sergeant Laurie RAAF messaged at 12:26 pm that the port engine was running hot but the pilot seemed not to be too concerned. The pilot continued with the exercise. At 12:35 pm they were ordered back to base and the aircraft received and acknowledged the order to return to base but the pilot continued on with the navigational exercise. The acknowledgement signal put it over Bardsey Isle which is a few miles off the coast of the Llyn Peninsula of Wales on the Irish Sea . The position was 04 47W and the track of the aircraft indicated they were flying west  along with the ground speed showed they were heading to the Irish coast to the Arklow Buoy and this was the most southerly point they would be flying.  A weather report had been sent to the crew and the transmissions indicated all was well. At 1:36 pm they radioed their position to base. At 1:37 pm the crew indicated they were returning to base with 4 miles of visibility and that the cloud base was 2,500' and at this point they had been in the air for 3 hours and 8 minutes.                                                                                                                  There was a second aircraft performing the same navigational exercise earlier stated their Observer saw another Hudson flying low over the water 8-10 miles north-east of the Arklow Buoy.                                                        The SS Hythe was running between Liverpool and Dublin on May 24 and the 2nd Officer stated there was a Hudson aircraft on his port side approximately 6 miles away and flying at a steady 500'. The aircraft passed in front of the ship about 1 1/2 miles away and then began a turn to port and the port wing then dipped suddenly and the aircraft and spun into the Irish sea, exploded and burst into flames. By the time the SS Hythe arrived at the crash scene the aircraft had sunk with very little wreckage. Three badly burned and broken bodies were seen but they could not be recovered. The crash position is 53 35N & 5.04W. The weather was reported to be excellent at the crash site with winds from the west-south-west at 20-25 mph with excellent visibility and 50% cloud cover at 8,000'.                                                                                                                                                There was no hostile aircraft or ships anywhere near the crash site.                                                                        The Board of Inquiry stated the primary cause for the crash was while at 500 feet the aircraft turned to port
then stalled and immediately spun into the Irish Sea and burst into flames. There are two scenarios ,,,,,

  • The pilot lost control while performing a turn to port and the aircraft began to lose airspeed and stalled then spun into the sea and exploded. 
  • The port engine lost power and Sergeant Laurie decided to try and crash land on the water. A turn to port in such conditions may have caused the pilot to lose control.

He is honoured and remembered on the Wingham Cenotaph, on the Memorial Plaques of St Andrews Presbyterian Church and Wingham High School. He is honoured and remembered in the Books of Remembrance that are located in the Centre Block of our Canadian Parliament and in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.