Baxenden Lads: Winterbottom R

SGT. PILOT 1534682 RICHARD WINTERBOTTOM
11th November 1943

SGT. PILOT 1534682 RICHARD WINTERBOTTOM of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve was killed in a flying accident on November 11th 1943 near Dornoch, Sutherland, northern Scotland. It was his twenty-second birthday.

Richard lived with his parents and sister Marie at 524 Manchester Road, Baxenden. His parents were Jim and Lucy Winterbottom, and Richard worked at the family business of butcher at his home. He was a well-known, popular attender at St. John’s Church, Baxenden, and attended St. John’s day school as a boy.

Richard had a keen interest in flying. He was in the Air Training Corps as a youth, and entered the Royal Air Force in 1941. He went to the United States for his flying training, and he had just been posted to Leuchars airfield, near Dundee, Scotland, when the accident occurred.

Richard’s body was brought home for burial in St. John’s Churchyard. He was placed in the family grave where his father was interred only six months previously in May 1943. His mother died in 1965 and is buried with them in Grave No.28, new part.

Richard’s name is on Accrington War Memorial and also on Accrington Grammar School Roll of Honour.