Flying Officer GM Wright
Gordon Wright
- Rank
- Flying Officer
- Squadron
- No 110 Squadron
- Fate
- Prisoner of war. Died 1984
From the book
Links of Long Standing
The SAAF Development Programme’s prewar demise influenced many young South Africans including WI Deas, PG Dexter, GJ Drake, J Falkson, AC Hamman, PH Hugo, O Hume, J Ing, AG Lewis, N Lewis, LA Lynn, Spencer Peacock -Edwards, SR Whiting and GM Wright while 26-year-old Michaelhouse educated Guy Paul Wentworth Austin arrived in England on the day war was declared, commissioned as an “acting Pilot on probation” in January 1940 and lost his life 10 months later in a No 9 Squadron Wellington shot down over Germany.
The First Ten Months
More than 100 RAF Command aircrew were posted “Missing” and 42 aircraft lost that day and during the next four days, over 200 Fairey Battle, Blenheim and Hurricane airmen lost their lives. Flying Officer John Ing, his Fairey Battle crew and eleven squadron colleagues were among 51 aircrew killed on May 14th when 40 Fairey Battles were shot down over the Sedan. No 110 Squadron Blenheim pilot Flying Officer Gordon Wright from the Eastern Cape survived being down and became a “POW”.
The Dreaded Telegram
Gerald and Ida Wright were living on Johannesburg’s East Rand when they received an Air Ministry telegram on May 16th advising their son, Flying Officer Gordon Wright was “Missing as a result of Operations against the Enemy”. His No 110 Squadron Blenheim had been shot down over the Sedan but several weeks later they took nervous delivery of a second telegram advising he was “now a Prisoner of War”.
Not at Home for Christmas
The escape and its aftermath were not forgotten, but by October the overwhelming number of new “POW’s” had watered down the negative effects on the camp while the enthusiasm of the Hut No 106 menu signatories “celebrating” their first and only Christmas behind barbed wire would not have been shared by veterans like Heaton- Nicholls, Filmer, SW Webster, Kennedy, and GM Wright 7.
Not at Home for Christmas
Flying Officer GM Wright commissioned in 1937 was flying one of five No 110 Squadron Blenheim’s shot down on May 14th, 1940, and spent 59 months as a “POW”. No information on his post war life has been sourced but he died in South Africa in 1984.