Flight Officer Raymond King memorial

Image: © Duncan Graham Taken: 2 Jun 2018

The photograph shows the memorial at the entrance to Albany Gardens, Clacton, to Flight Officer Raymond Earl King of the 436th Fighter Squadron, 479th Fighter Group, US 8th Air Force. He was killed at the age of 22 on 13th Jan 1945 when his aircraft crashed into the sea nearby. Flight Officer King was returning to his base in Wattisham, Suffolk, accompanying a stricken comrade after a combat mission, when his aircraft developed engine trouble. He was brought ashore unconscious but died shortly afterwards. Flight Officer King came from North Braddock, Pennsylvania, and was the son of Harry King, a policeman at a steel works, and his wife Margaret. His aeroplane was recovered in 1987 and is displayed at the museum of the East Essex Aviation Society. The memorial was unveiled by his cousin, Mr Alvin J Stuart of Wildwood, Florida, on the fiftieth anniversary of Flight Officer King's death. [Sources for information: memorial inscriptions; Clacton Gazette, 14th Jan 2000; website of American Air Museum in Britain www.americanairmuseum.com/person/178362 , which gives further details and includes a photograph of Raymond King].

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