Flying Officer, RAF
Born: June 13th 1916
Died: April 24th 1942
Age at Death: 25
Killed on active service, April 24th 1942
Gerald Lonsdale was born on 13 June 1916 in Willesden, London, to Harry Lonsdale, who worked in insurance, and his wife Cicely (née Villiers). After leaving Brighton College, where he was a keen sportsman, Gerald became a bank clerk in Brighton, and married Marjorie Aiken a couple of years later in 1936.
Gerald enlisted in the RAF in July 1940. Within six months he had obtained his commission, and was serving with Coastal Command, which attacked enemy shipping and protected Allied vessels. In November 1941 his unit, 502 (Ulster) Squadron, was the first in Coastal Command to sink a U-boat.
On 24 April 1942 he was in charge of an aircraft on patrol in the Bay of Biscay when he signalled that he was returning with engine trouble. He almost made it, but when he was 20–30 miles south of the Isles of Scilly, he sent an SOS and then nothing else was heard. His plane was never found. Gerald is commemorated on a plaque at St Andrew’s Church in Edburton, West Sussex.