Frank Gordon Fallows Perry was killed on 11th June 1941, the day before his 21st birthday.

His well-kept private memorial with an inscribed RAF crest reads:

"In sacred memory of Sergt. Frank Gordon Fallows Perry Born 12th June 1920. Killed in action 11th June 1941"

Frank was a Wireless Engineer Mechanic in 16 Squadron RAF, based in Weston Zoyland. The squadron was equipped with Lysander aircraft, a two-seater aircraft that had been designed primarily for reconnaissance and, despite having front and rear machine guns, it was considered too slow, and its manoeuvrability too limited, to be an effective fighter. 

16 Squadron’s role during 1941 had been primarily coastal patrols and looking for downed airmen.

On the 10th of June 1941 another pilot's accidental death was to set in motion the train of events that would lead to Frank’s own death. On that day the Squadron’s commanding officer Wing Commander Richard Hancock had been killed taking off from RAF Roborough an airfield just 70 miles away from Weston Zoyland.

Squadron Leader Donald Walker DFC was immediately appointed the new commanding officer of 16 Squadron. His first duty as the new CO, was to make arrangements for the funeral of Wing Commander Hancock, and to this end he flew to Roborough himself the next day with Frank Perry as his observer/rear gunner.

These arrangements having been made, they were then returning to their base in Weston Zoyland but for some reason they did not take the direct route, a journey that would have taken less than 45 minutes. Instead, they flew south and out to sea, possibly trying to make their day more productive by fitting in a sea patrol but a few miles off the coast of Teignmouth.

They were attacked by a flight of 4 Messerschmitt Bf 109’s. This was a mismatch on a terrifying scale, the Messerschmitts were faster and more agile than the RAF Lysander, and Walker tried to evade them by flying back over the Devonshire countryside. One report says that the rear Gunner (Perry) managed to shoot down one of the German planes – another had it that one of the 109’s had to break off the attack. But inevitably the RAF plane was “shot down in flames” and crashed into a house near Exmouth killing both men instantly.

So, 16 Squadron had lost two commanding officers in two days. Donald Walker was buried in Thornton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, he was 33 years old. Frank’s body was returned to his parents in Backwell.

Exactly why Perry was chosen for this fatal flight is something of a mystery. As a Wireless Engineer Mechanic he was essentially a ground tradesman there’s no record of him having flown at all with the squadron in the months leading up to the incident. One theory is that in the July 1941 the RAF announced that WEM’s could be considered for further technical training and promotion to Wireless Operator Mechanic (Rear Gunner) - “provided they had completed at least one operational flight” - so maybe Perry was looking for promotion and needed to record a flight? Or maybe it was a just a treat for his 21st Birthday? Whatever the truth of it, Perry’s first flight would be his last.

Whilst researching this story, I came across something very unexpected. The air battles over Britain are one of the most studied and well documented areas of WW2, but it was still a surprise when I discovered the actual name of the German Pilot that had shot down the RAF plane. His name was F W Wolfgang Falkinger of 111/JG2. Just two weeks after he shot down Perry’s aircraft, Falkinger would be killed himself in a dog fight with an RAF Spitfire over the English Channel on 25 June 1941, he was 22 years old, and his body was never recovered.