Edward Vincent Knowles

Edward Vincent Knowles was born around 1909 and grew up in Warboys, Huntingdonshire, the son of Joseph and Martha Knowles. A man of considerable education, he held a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Music, and professional qualifications from the Royal College of Music — accomplishments that set him apart from most of his contemporaries in the wartime RAF. He was commissioned into the Royal Air Force as a permanent officer and by 1941, as a Squadron Leader, was flying with No. 1409 Flight, one of the early PAMPA meteorological reconnaissance units that sent single aircraft deep into enemy airspace to assess weather conditions ahead of bombing operations — hazardous solo sorties demanding both navigational precision and nerve. For his service in this role he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted in the London Gazette on 23 September 1941. Promoted to Wing Commander, Knowles subsequently took command of RAF Andreas on the Isle of Man, a station that had been equipped with Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys for airborne forces training. On 23 August 1942, a 296 Squadron Whitley (serial BD417) called in at Andreas to refuel while routing north; Knowles chose to take the aircraft up for a short flight, but the Whitley failed to become airborne before the end of the runway and crashed into a field at West Kimmeragh Farm, bursting into flames — killing him, his wife Gladys, and Flying Officer A. B. Paton instantly, with further fatalities following from injuries. He was thirty-three years old and is buried at Andreas (St. Andrew) Churchyard on the Isle of Man, Service Plot, Grave 9.