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John Clarke

Historian of Brookwood Cemetery

Battle of Britain Pilots Buried at Brookwood

In celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain it is appropriate to list all those pilots who served during the Battle and who are buried at Brookwood.

The accompanying list shows that 31 pilots are buried in the cemetery. Of these 13 were killed during the course of the Battle, 12 were killed during the course of the Second World War, whilst the remainder have died since.

Of those killed during the War, 20 are buried in the Military Cemetery – either in the RAF section, the “old” part of the military cemetery, or in the Canadian Military Cemetery. The majority of the rest are buried in the Czechoslovakian sections, and most of these are in the Czechoslovakian Ex-Servicemen’s section at the far end of plot 134 (just outside the military cemetery). Only one is buried in the “civilian” section – Pilot Officer Peter Kennard-Davis who is buried in his family’s grave in plot 26.

Amongst those buried at Brookwood are Alexander Hess, one of the oldest pilots serving in the Battle of Britain; and Andy Mamedoff, an American pilot serving with the RAF.

Although there are a number of memorials in the main cemetery at Brookwood with epitaphs to “the Few” (such as the headstone of Flying Officer John F. Painter DFC in plot 15) they are not listed here as they are not members of that select group who flew and fought during the Battle of Britain.

There is a headstone commemorating Jaroslav Sterbacek in the Czechoslovakian Ex-Servicemen’s plot. He was the first Czechoslovakian airman to be killed in action with the RAF on 31 August 1940. This is believed to be a marker stone since seventy years on Sterbacek remains one of those “missing in action”.

N

Notes/Key to table

AU = Australian

BMC = CWGC Military Cemetery (original part, behind the RAF section)

CA = Canadian

CAN = Canadian Military Cemetery

CZ = Czechoslovakian Military Cemetery

CZA = Czechoslovakian Ex-Servicemen’s Plot

P/O = Pilot Officer

PO = Polish, Polish Military Cemetery

RAF = RAF Military Cemetery

SA = South African

US = American

SA = South African

Sources

Battle of Britain London Monument website at www.bbm.org.uk

CWGC website at www.cwgc.org

Copyright © 2010 by John M. Clarke All Rights Reserved