Reginald West

REGINALD WEST  Fg.Off. RAF.VR   d. 23 June 1944  aged 23   151264

 

REGINALD WEST was the son of William West and Blanche (née Holdsworth), of Worsley. His parents were married in the Bucklow area in the third quarter of 1919, possibly at St.Mary's, Ashton upon Mersey.

Reginald was born on 28 December 1920.

 

On 19 February 1943, he was commissioned into the RAFVR (General Duties Branch) on an emergency commission. On 23 June 1944, he was posted as a navigator/wireless operator to 236 Squadron, RAF.

According to his will, proven on 1 November, his estate was granted to William West, commercial traveller, presumably his father.  He lived at 147 Old Clough Lane and the burial records show that he died at Minster, near Manston, Kent.

 

Reginald joined the Metro-Vickers Company as a Clerk in March 1939 and was employed in the Cost Department. He joined the RAF in October 1940 and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer and later promoted to the rank of Flying Officer (19 August 1943).  He was killed whilst on air operations in June 1944. This may have been near Thanet, Kent.

 

236 Squadron had originally been formed in the First World War as an anti-submarine force, but was disbanded in May 1919. It reformed in October 1939 as a fighter squadron and moved to various bases until it relocated to RAF North Coates (Lincolnshire), six miles south-east of Cleethorpes, in September 1942. From there, it carried out anti-shipping patrols over the North Sea in the Bristol Beaufighter Mk.X.

Researched and written by Paul R Speakman