The Airmen's Stories - P/O A G Wainwright

Alex George Wainwright joined the RAFVR about September 1938 as an Airman u/t Pilot. Called up on September 1st 1939, he completed his training, was commissioned and joined 151 Squadron at Martlesham Heath in late August 1940. On the 29th, during a routine patrol, Wainwright baled out and was admitted to Epping Hospital with broken ribs. His Hurricane, P3882, crashed near Basildon. Wainwright was posted to 73 Squadron on November 7th 1940. The squadron embarked on HMS Furious on the 10th bound for the Middle East. The pilots flew their Hurricanes off at Takoradi on the 29th to fly the ferry route north to Heliopolis via Lagos, Accra, Kano, Maidugari, Khartoum, Wadi Haifa and Abu Sueir. During December the pilots of 73 were attached to 274 Squadron in the Western Desert. 73 Squadron became operational again as a unit in early January 1941. On the 21st the squadron escorted Blenheims to bomb Tobruk. The Hurricanes got into a dogfight with Fiat G50’s and Wainwright was shot down and killed. He is remembered on the Alamein Memorial.

Photographs courtesy of Colonel C R Romberg RA, British Embassy Cairo