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Acting Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Giles BLAKE
Arthur Giles Blake was born in 1917 in Northumberland and educated at Slough Grammar SchooL He passed through the Royal Naval College, Greenwich and joined the Fleet Air Arm, gained his wings in January 1940. His first posting was HMS Daedalus, a shore station at Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire.
On 15th June 1940 he was one of the FAA pilots attached to the RAF and he first attended 7 OTU, Hawarden, to convert to Spitfires. On 1st July 1940 Blake joined 19 Squadron at Duxford, where his colleagues gave him the nickname 'Admiral'.
On 3rd September Blake damaged a Me110, on the 9th he destroyed a He111, on the 15th he destroyed a Me109, shared a He111 and damaged a Do17 and on the 17th he destroyed two more Me109's.
Blake was acting as weaver during a patrol over South London on 29th October 1940, when he was shot down and killed, probably picked off by a Me109. His Spitfire, P7423, flew on for some time before crashing in London Road, Chelmsford.
Blake is buried in Langley Marish (St Mary) Churchyard, Slough - Row 13. Grave 3.
Son of John Henry Laws Blake and Mary Jayne Blake.
H.M.S. Daedalus (Fleet Air Arm) attached. 19 Sqdn. Royal Air Force
Copy of Blake's 9th September combat report courtesy of Paul Saunders.
Ref
Battle of Britain London Monument
CWGC
