Rex Ronald Boyce Durtnall

Rex Ronald Boyce Durtnall was a Flight Sergeant, wireless operator/air gunner, service number 650617. CWGC records his death on 31 July 1941, aged 21, and his burial at Dover (St Mary’s) New Cemetery. The London Gazette records his Distinguished Flying Medal on 11 February 1941, and RAFCommands links that award to No. 61 Squadron.

The Dover War Memorial Project supplies a detailed local and loss account. It identifies Durtnall as RAF, No. 61 Squadron, and states that on 30 July 1941 he took off from North Luffenham in Hampden AE266 for a raid on Cologne. Returning in the early hours of 31 July, the aircraft crashed while attempting to land at RAF Upwood; all crew were killed except Flight Sergeant Scott, who was injured. The page also records his parents as Ettie Mary Durtnall and the late Charles James Durtnall, notes his pre-war work as an assistant at George Thomas’s, and says he was engaged to Joan Kingsmill.