Robert Gray
Flying Officer RAFVR
From CWGC:
Service No: 191697
Date of Death: 01/07/1946
Age: 24
Cemetery: WALNEY ISLAND (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD Sec. C. Grave 204. Additional Information: Son of Ernest Arthur and Susannah Mary Gray; husband of Norah Gray, of Barrow-in-Furness.
Barrow News 6 July 1946 reported:
Barrow News, 6 July 1946Walney Victims of Air Crash
It is officially reported that two Walney airmen are missing on a practice flight
from Northern Ireland on Monday. They are Pilot-Officer R. Gray, of 17, Queen- street, Barrow, and Flight-Lieut. Flower, of Ashburton, Mid-Canterbury, New Zealand. [Source He is buried in Stranraer (Glebe) Cemetery]Pilot-Officer Gray, aged 24, a native of Bath, was due to be demobbed next Wednesday.
Mrs. Gray was formerly Miss Wilkinson, a member of a well-known Barrow family.
Twenty-eight years old, Flt.-Lieut. Flower was senior gunnery officer at Walney, and one of the few remaining New Zealand airmen in the country.
Barrow News 20 July 1946 recorded finding Robert Gray’s body:
Barrow News, 20 July 1946Echo of Air Crash
Body of Walney R.A.F. Officer Recovered
The body of an airman washed up near Workington on Monday, was identified by R.A.F. personnel on Walney Island as that of Flying Officer R. Gray, of 17, Queen-street, Barrow.
It may be recalled that Flying Officer Gray was the pilot of a Wellington bomber which disappeared on the return journey of a practice flight between N. Ireland and the Isle of Man on Monday, 1 July.
The other occupant of the plane, Flight-Lieut. Flower, a New Zealander, is still missing.
A verdict of accidental death was returned at the inquest which was held at Workington on Monday night. Documents which had been found on the body were produced to establish Flying-Officer Gray’s identity.
