Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 239

W ORLD W AR II

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name NICHOLAS RICHARD PEEL (Act Pilot Off)

Lef SES 1936

Roll Number 2826 Died 08:10:1941

Set / House B

Arrive SES 1933

Where NORMANDY COAST, FRANCE Serving with 140 SQD, FIGHTER CMD, R.A.F.V.R.

Age 24

Buried Grandchamp-Les-Balms Churchyard, Normandy, France Remembered The St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial

Born Woodborough, Wiltshire 1919, the son of an (OSE) clergyman. He was a member of the Choir, a Lance Corporal in the OTC and Form Vc2. After leaving he was an apprentice at the Bristol Aero Company, and was in the middle of studying for his degree when the war broke out. He joined the RAF as an Acting Pilot Officer in 1938 and by 1941 was a Flight Officer with 140 Squadron, Fighter Command flying Spitfires. He was Mentioned in Dispatches early in 1941 and when killed in action by enemy fighters over the Normandy coast, he was flying the latest Submarine Spitfire, a special fighter reconnaissance version of the aircraft. By the time of his death Peel was an very experienced pilot having flown multiple missions over France, Germany, Holland and Belgium. ‘Lost during a tactical low-level recce sortie to the Port-En-Bessin area on the Normandy Coast’ (Official Report).