Mr Guy Desmond John King DFC (1934-1938)

During WW2 served in Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve and on the night of 13 June 1943 was piloting Avro Lancaster ED916 of 103 Squadron on a raid on Bochum, Germany. They were attacked by a German night fighter piloted by Oblt Werner Rapp flying out of Twente airfield whilst they were returning from the raid. The attack killed 2 of the crew and set the port engines on fire. Guy King was last to leave the stricken Lancaster that was engulfed in flames and exploded shortly afterwards. Separated from the rest of the crew, he attempted to evade capture but finally gave himself up to a Dutch family who sadly handed him over to the German Police . He was finally sent to Sagan prisoner of war camp and worked on the Great Escape tunnel but at the last minute was not selected to be part of the escape team. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 13 July 1943 “For gallantry and devotion to duty in the execution of air operations”.  [My thanks to Mike Berrie for providing additional information]. He remained in the RAF after the war being promoted to Flight Lieutenant on 15 May 1947 with seniority from 7 March 1944 and on 1st July 1954 his promotion to Squadron Leader was announced. He retired from the RAF on 27 February 1966. After leaving the RAF he worked as a commercial pilot. He died in 1991 at Marlow in Buckinghamshire.