Sergeant Greystone Doyle ('Grey') Cumberbatch was a Barbadian airman of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died during the Second World War.
He was born on 2 June 1921, at Grapehall, St Lucy, the only son of Charles Wilkinson and Octavia Cecily Clementina Cumberbatch (née Jordan), of St. Michael.[1] Educated at Harrison College,[2] Cumberbatch volunteered for the Royal Air Force as part of the 'Second Barbados Contingent' The contingent of 12 Bajans left the Caribbean in November 1940, and were assigned to various units.[3]
Cumberbatch was posted to 100 Squadron, serving with it as an air bomber. He died on 5 March 1943 when his Avro Lancaster (serial ED549) crashed while attempting to land at Langar Airfield, Nottinghamshire. Only one of the seven crew, Sergeant D.S. Davies, survived. Their aircraft had been returning from a mine-laying operation against St. Nazaire and was the squadron's first Lancaster loss of the war.[3]
He is buried in St. Swithun Churchyard, Long Bennington.
Notes[]
- ↑ Family: Charles Wilkinson Cumberbatch/Octavia Cecily Clementina Jordan, cumberbatch.one-name.net. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
- ↑ Greystone Doyle Cumberbatch, cumberbatch.one-name.net. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Johnson, Mark (2014),Caribbean Volunteers at War: The Forgotten Story of the RAF's 'Tuskegee Airmen.
References[]
- Cumberbatch, Grey Doyle, cwgc.org. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
External links[]
- Paying tribute to an only son who died in Lancaster bomber ED 549: Barbadian Sergeant Grey Cumberbatch. 10 March 2012, barbadosfreepress.wordpress.com. Retrieved 8 August 2015.