John Sample

John Sample was born on 31 January 1913 at Longhirst, Northumberland, the son of Thomas Norman Sample, a ship owner, and Kate Isabel Sample of Morpeth. After schooling at Aysgarth and Lancing College, he qualified as a land agent and worked alongside his uncle managing estates for the Duke of Portland; he was also a gifted musician, at home on the flute, concertina, and Northumbrian pipes. In 1934 he was commissioned into the Auxiliary Air Force as a pilot officer with 607 (County of Durham) Squadron at RAF Usworth, and by January 1939 had risen to flight lieutenant and commander of B Flight. When war came he was called to full-time service, flew with 607 through the fall of France, was shot down and wounded, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross — the citation noting that he had led his squadron exceptionally well, shot down two enemy aircraft, and been a great inspiration to those around him. In May 1940 he took command of 504 (County of Nottingham) Squadron AAF, leading it through the Battle of Britain before being rested from operations, and in September 1941 he was given command of the newly reformed 137 Squadron, which flew the Westland Whirlwind fighter-bomber on low-level offensive sorties over occupied Europe from RAF Charmy Down in Somerset. On the afternoon of 28 October 1941, just five weeks into that command, Sample was killed during formation-practice flying near Bath when the propeller of a fellow pilot’s Whirlwind struck the tail of his own aircraft; he bailed out, but his parachute had not fully deployed by the time he struck the ground near Englishcombe, and he died at the age of twenty-eight. He is buried at Bothal (St Andrew) Churchyard, Northumberland, close to the Morpeth home in which he had grown up.