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The Airmen's Stories - P/O C J Arthur

 

Charles John Arthur, of Radyr, Glamorgan, was born on 10th January 1918 in Llandaff, Cardiff. His mother, Margaret Elizabeth, had been born in Bridgetown, Barbados. She was listed in the 1911 census as a teacher at The Girls' High School Monmouth. She died in 1922. She had married James Fitzgerald Arthur in Canada.

He was a mechanical engineer who rose to a senior position with the Cardiff Railway, which became part of the Great Western Railway in 1923. He died in 1962.

CJ Arthur joined the RAF on a short service commission in May 1939.

He was posted to 248 Squadron when it was reformed at Hendon in October 1939. A Coastal Command squadron, it was seconded to Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain.

 

 

Arthur was lost on 27th August 1940, when his Blenheim IV, L9449, failed to return from a reconnaissance flight to the south Norwegian coast. The aircraft is known to have crashed into the sea, perhaps shot down by fighters. The body of the air gunner, Sgt. RCR Cox, was washed up in Sweden.

Arthur and his observer, Sgt. AE Ringwood, were never found. Their names are on the Runnymede Memorial, Panels 7 and 22 respectively. Arthur was 22 years old.

 

 

(Above image courtesy of Dean Sumner).


 

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