Batten, Gordon George
Personal Information
Rank | Sgt |
Forename(s) | Gordon George |
Surname | Batten |
Gender | M |
Age | 22 |
Decorations | |
Date of Death | 09-11-1943 |
Next of Kin | Son of Jesse Stephen and Emily Ruth Batten, of Croydon, Surrey. |
Aircraft Information
Aircraft | Short Stirling III |
Serial Number | LK380 |
Markings | XY-Y Y-Yorker |
Memorial Information
Burial/Memorial Country | United Kingdom |
Burial/Memorial Place | Runnymede Memorial |
Grave Reference | Panel 142. |
Epitaph |
IBCC Memorial Information
Phase | 2 |
Panel Number | 128 |
Enlistment Information
Service Number | 1318361 |
Service | Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve |
Group | 3 |
Squadron | 90 |
Trade | Air Gunner |
Country of Origin | United Kingdom |
Other Memorials
Location | Roadside location, Tilbury Juxta Clare, Essex |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Inscribed Marble Memorial |
Memorial Text | In memory of the Airmen of XC Sqn, No 3 Bomb Group flying operations from here with the Mk 1 Stirling Bomber December 1943 until May 1943 |
Location | St. Mary & All the Saints Church, Little Walsingham, Norfolk |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Inscribed Stone Tablet |
Memorial Text | In loving memory of Henry Philip Lee Warner AFC DFC. Only Son of Philip Henry & Mary King Lee Warner. Actg S/L RAFVR killed in action over Germany Aug 26th 1944 in his 32nd year |
Location | Village Green, Tuddenham, Suffolk |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Inscribed Memorial atopped with Inscribed Silver Sun-Dial |
Memorial Text | For all those who served their country as part of XC Sqn RAF |
Location | St. Mary's Church, Tuddenham, Suffolk |
Country | United Kingdom |
Memorial Type | Framed Sqn Roll of Honour |
Memorial Text | They grow not old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the Sun and in the morning, we will remember them |
Miscellaneous Information
This aircraft was carrying 6 of its 7 normal crew plus a pilot and two gunners from a new crew who were receiving training on evasive manoeuvres |
The Hurricane pilot (F/S J. Brown) bailed out but broke both legs when he landed on telegraph wires alongside a railway track. Farm hands were nearby and rushed to the scene to stop an on-coming train just in time. He was a veteran of 30 operational sorties in Malta |
The 7th member of the regular crew was undergoing hospital treatment following a minor traffic accident and tried to join his colleagues by pedalling his cycle around the taxiway and along the runway behind them in a futile effort to be noticed. He believed he was ignored as a practical joke by his friends. |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The National Archives
Record of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/731/28 |
Summary of Events (Operational Record Book) AIR 27/731/27 |
Fellow Servicemen
Last Operation Information
Start Date | 09-11-1943 |
End Date | 09-11-1943 |
Takeoff Station | Tuddenham |
Day/Night Raid | Day |
Operation | Training- fighter affiliation sortie |
Reason for Loss | Crashed following a mid-air collision with a Hurricane IV (KW800) of the Air Fighting Development Unit. Came down on a farm to the NW of Mildenhall airfield, Suffolk |