1943_01_28_whitehead_john.jpg

Pilot Officer, Royal Australian Air Force
Born: January 12th 1914
Died: January 28th 1943

Age at Death: 29

Killed on active service, January 28th 1943

John was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, on 12 January 1914 to William Whitehead, a worsted spinner, and his wife Lucy (née Speight). At the College he appeared as one of General Stanley’s daughters in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, alongside Rhys Price, Kenneth Seth-Smith and Raymond Elliott.

At some point after leaving the College he must have emigrated to Australia, because the next we hear of him is his death while serving in an Operational Training unit of the Royal Australian Air Force in Bairnsdale, Victoria. This was presumably in an aircraft accident, probably while training, though it is also possible that he was an instructor. He is buried in the Bairnsdale War Cemetery, Australia.

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