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| Pilot Officer Alfred John QUIN (162262) | |
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40 Squadron Royal Air Force Date of birth: 20th October 1923 Date of death: 7th September 1944 Killed in action aged 20 Buried at Bologna War Cemetery, Collective Grave I A 8 |
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| Alfred John Quin was born on the 20th of October 1923 the elder son of Alfred Elliott Quin, a China merchant, and Valentina Alexievna Quin of The Haven, Grovelands Road, Purley in Surrey. He spent most of his early childhood in China where his father had a business. He was educated at Lancing College where he was in Gibbs House from January 1938 to April 1942. He was a member of the Cricket XI in 1941 and the Football XI in the same year. He gained his School Certificate in 1940 and was a member of the Air Training Corps achieving Certificate A and a Proficiency Certificate. He won the School Five Mile Race in 1942 and was appointed as a House Captain in the same year. He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on the 5th of August 1944. At 7.19pm on the evening of the 4th of September 1944 Alfred Quin and his crew took off from Foggia Main in Italy in Wellington Mk X LN753-P for an operation on the railway marshalling yards at Bologna. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after it took off and it was the only aircraft which did not return to base. Returning crews reported seeing yellow lights in the sea in the position 42.55N 14.39E and a ship was seen steaming towards the scene. The crew was:- Flying Officer Guy Parker Roberts RAAF (Pilot) Sergeant Victor Stanley James Belt (Air Gunner) Pilot Officer Alfred John Quin (Air Bomber) Sergeant John Maxwell Dobson (Navigator) Sergeant Thomas Morris (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) He is commemorated on the war memorial at Thakeham in Sussex. |
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| Gibbs House |
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