Gordon Leonard Rabbetts
Memorial: South Gloucestershire war dead not on a local memorial
Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Medals: 1939–45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star, War Medal 1939–1945
Rank and number: Sergeant wireless operator/air gunner
Marital status: Married
Home address: Fishponds, Bristol
Date of birth: 1925
Date of death: 17/05/1945
Buried/Commemorated at: Mangotsfield Downend Cemetery
Age: 20
Further information:
On the day of his death Gordon was one of a crew of seven in Lancaster bomber RF124 which left RAF East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, to take part in a routine training exercise. The aircraft came down and crashed in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, killing all on-board in circumstances that remain a mystery. The crash left a five-foot crater with the plane's wreckage spread over two miles. The wreckage and initially the remains of the crew were buried in the crater and a local minister performed a simple funeral ceremony. The bodies were later removed to cemeteries local to the families. Gordon was killed just over a year after his marriage TO Valerie Mary Skuse and a few days after the war had officially ended.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/nostalgia/wolverhampton-nostalgia/2017/05/18/wednesfield-lancaster-bomber-crash-remembered-at-special-exhibition/