GEORGE HENRY WHITMAN F.C.I.I.
Image from the Evening Star – 5th May 1942.
Born: 1st June 1912, Ipswich.
Died: 30th April 1942; age: 29; aircraft crashed on take off.
And by a sad coincidence the news of his death arrived on the day that his son was born.
Residence: 4, The Expanse, Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire.
Occupation: a Branch Accountant with the Phoenix Insurance Company.
George volunteered for the R.A.F. in June 1940, and soon obtained his pilot’s certificate, and was assigned to the R.A.F.V.R.
Rank: Sergeant/Pilot; Service Number: 1378967.
Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 1st Section Aircraft Delivery Unit.
Grave Reference:
1.G.18.
Egypt.
Relatives Notified & Address: Only son of Arthur William & Minnie Whitman, of 784, Foxhall Road, Ipswich; husband of Muriel Florence Whitman, of Bridlington, Yorkshire.
Father: Arthur William Whitman, born December 1884, Ipswich. A Building Society’s Secretary.
Mother: Minnie Whitman (nee Norton), born March 1884, Ipswich.
Whitman family home – ‘Evica’ 784, Foxhall Road, Ipswich.
George was educated at Northgate School, and in 1927, passed the London University General Schools Examination. Two years later he entered the service of the Phoenix Insurance Company, at Ipswich, and in 1938, George was transferred to the Hull branch as their Branch Accountant. In 1939, he gained the Fellowship diploma of the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Whilst in Ipswich George took a keen interest in the local work of the Insurance Institute, and for some time acted as treasurer.
In 1939, Bridlington, Yorkshire of East Riding, George married Muriel Florence Railton, born June 1912, Hull, Yorkshire.
They had 1 son – born the day Muriel received the news George had been killed.
ENGLAND & WALES REGISTER 1939
George was an Insurance Clerk Accountant. He and Muriel were living at their family home – 4, The Expanse, Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire. Muriel was a Shorthand Typist. During the Second World War Muriel was a Red Cross Nurse – First Aid Post, Bridlington Corps.
Probate to Muriel Florence Whitman – widow.
30th April 1942
Aircraft: Bristol Blenheim MkIV; serial number: V5791. The aircraft crashed on take off at Helwan airstrip, Egypt, when attempting to avoid a lorry of troops crossing the runway. News of his death reached his family on the day his son was born.
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?7385-Lost-RAF-servicemen-of-Bridlington/page3
Aircraft information courtesy of John Allan.
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