Speedway Casualties 1939-1945

[chunky]

Following on from my recent post about 'Smiling' Jim Kempster, here are some riders (or ex-riders) who did not survive the war - for various reasons, as you will see. I'm sure there are more, but this is what I have for now.

PAT BIDDLE
Born in Birmingham, Pat made several appearances for Birmingham Hall Green in the 1931 National Trophy.
Private Biddle of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps was 34 years of age when killed in action in Tunisia on 5th May, 1943. He is buried in Medjez-el-Bab War Cemetery in Bajah, Tunisia

GEORGE COCKBONE
Pilot Officer Cockbone of RAF 175 squadron was flying Hawker Typhoon IB EK 184 near Dieppe in northern France, when he crashed. He was 26, and is buried in Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery.

DAVID GITTINS
Known as “Dilly”, David Hugh Gittins rode with some success for Coventry in the 1929 Southern League, and also made a couple of appearances for Leicester in the English Dirt Track League. 
On 5th March, 1941, Pilot Officer Gittins of the RAF Volunteer Reserve was flying a Magister 1 P6453 at the 24 Elementary Training School at Luton when the aircraft crashed. He was 37. His grave can be found in the Hagley Cemetery, Hagley, Worcestershire.
As a footnote, Gittins’ daughter Dawn married Sir David Gamble, 5th Baronet Gamble, thus becoming Lady Gamble.

SYD GRIFFITHS
On 11th September, 1940, the Cunliffe-Owen aircraft factory in Swaythling, Hampshire (adjacent to Southampton - then known as Eastleigh - airport) was subjected to a dive-bombing raid by eight Messerschmitt Me-110’s. 52 people were killed, and a further 92 injured. Among the dead was Syd Griffiths, who had ridden for Southampton since 1936, and had actually appeared earlier in 1940. He was 35.

JACK HARGREAVES
After spending the 1936 season at Liverpool, Jack Hargreaves joined Belle Vue. He proved to be a very capable reserve/second-string, and was a vital part of their 1939 National Trophy winning side.
During the war, he found employment working as a mechanic at a local garage. On 15th January, 1944, his motorcycle collided with a bus, and he died later in hospital. He was 31.

REG LUCAS
Reg Lucas rode for Nottingham from 1929 to 1931.
On 10th March, 1941, Handley Page Halifax bomber L9489 of No. 35 squadron was returning to base at Linton-on Ouse, from an attack on the docks at Le Havre. The Halifax was mistaken for an enemy aircraft, and was shot down at 22.40 by British night fighters, crashing in the grounds of Merrist Wood Agricultural College, near Worplesdon, Surrey. Two of the six-man crew were able to parachute to safety. The remaining four, including Pilot Sergeant Lucas, who, as 2nd Pilot, had just assumed control of the aircraft, were killed. He was 29, and is buried in Mansfield Cemetery, Mansfield, Notts.

HECTOR 'SKID' SKINNER
Hector ‘Skid’ Skinner spent the 1928 season competing at the Manchester White City circuit, and other regional tracks. The following season, he became an integral part of their team in the 1929 Northern League alongside Arthur Jervis and Walter Hull. He then moved on to become a famed “Wall of Death” performer with his wife Alma.

On 4th December, 1944, Skinner was shot and killed in a tragic hunting accident near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

REG STAINER
Better known on the Midlands grasstrack circuit, Reg made sporadic appearances on speedway tracks in the immediate pre-war years. In May 1939, he finished 3rd in the C.V. Bolton Trophy at Oxford, behind Jim Boyd and Jack Adams.
He succumbed to injuries sustained in a "blackout" car accident during an air raid in 1940.

ARTHUR 'BLUEY' WILKINSON
Arthur ‘Bluey’ Wilkinson spent his entire British career with West Ham, and of course, became 1938 World Champion.
On 27th July, 1940, ‘Bluey’ was riding his motorcycle in the Sydney, NSW, suburb of Bondi, with his wife Muriel as pillion. A lorry swerved to avoid hitting a car, and collided with the motorcycle. ‘Bluey’ suffered a fractured skull, and was killed almost instantly. Muriel suffered only cuts and bruises.

[Sotonian]

Newcastle's George Pepper was another wartime casualty 

Hall of Fame - George Pepper (canadianspeedway.com)

[chunky]

4 hours ago, Sotonian said:

Newcastle's George Pepper was another wartime casualty 

Hall of Fame - George Pepper (canadianspeedway.com)

I'd already covered George Pepper on here a while ago...

 

Edited April 5 by chunky

[Historian]

Pat Biddle was born Sept 1908 in Alabama city USA, It is now called Gadsden Alabama, Its north of Birmingham Ala. His parents moved to Birmingham, Ala. about 1903 but returned to England about 1910 to settle in Sparkbrook Birmingham, a stone's throw from the BSA factory. Pat was about 1yr old on his arrival in England.