Seeking family of Sub Lt Arthur Blake Royal Navy pilot attached 19 Sqn RAF during BoB

[airborne_artist]

Slough Observer.

AN APPEAL has been sounded to find the family of a fallen war hero to unveil a new road in honour of his bravery.

Barratt Homes wants to find the family of Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Giles Blake who was an RAF pilot [sic] with 19 Squadron during the Battle of Britain.

Mr Blake, who was given the nickname 'Admiral', was killed in October 1940, at the age of 23, when his Spitfire was attacked by a stray German aircraft on routine patrol over south London.

His aircraft travelled nearly 20 miles north before crashing in flames in Chelmsford, Essex, and he was buried in St Mary's Church, in St Mary's Road, Langley, Slough.

The developer is naming the streets of its new development in Basildon after the airmen who fell in Essex, but the company want to trace any relatives of Mr Blake to unveil the new street called Blake Way.

It is thought they could live in the Slough area.

Mr Blake was born in Northumberland in 1917 and was one of eight known children.

Can you help? Call 01923 29738.

[4Greens]

Check out the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton.

[V.Blake]

Arthur Giles Blake was my Great Uncle, my Grandfathers (Henry Blake) brother. I've only just found this post so the information you require maybe too late to be of any help. My father, Peter, knows more information and I can ask him any questions you may need answering. My side of the Blake family live in Reading, but I live in Australia now. It would be wonderful to know if the road was named after him. Hope to hear from you soon, Victoria :)

[moffist]

I just came across this thread while researching Sub Lt Blake. He trained at 20 ERFTS Gravesend on No. 6 Air Course and I am restoring Tiger Moth N5490 that he would have trained on. See N-5490 - Index Page (http://www.N5490.org) and check out Blake's bio as far as I have it in the Pilots link. I would also very much like to get in touch with the family. In particular, I would be very interested in discovering if his logbook from his training days has survived.

Ian Grace
vintageminor-at-gmail.com

[John.Aldridge]

I too have been seeking to commemorate Lt Blake by erecting a memorial plaque in the local church only a few hundred yards from where his Spitfire crashed in London Road Chelmsford on 29th October 1940.

I am still awaiting formal permission from the Church Authorities but should this be forthcoming It would be really great if members of his family could be present at the unveiling.

If there are any names / addresses which I could use to contact his relations I should be very grateful.

i do not yet quite understand how contact nos or email addresses can be exchanged!

John [email protected]

[John.Aldridge]

Sub Lt Blake
I too have been seeking to commemorate Lt Blake by erecting a memorial plaque in the local church only a few hundred yards from where his Spitfire crashed in London Road Chelmsford on 29th October 1940.

I am still awaiting formal permission from the Church Authorities but should this be forthcoming It would be really great if members of his family could be present at the unveiling.

If there are any names / addresses which I could use to contact his relations I should be very grateful.

i do not yet quite understand how contact nos or email addresses can be exchanged!

John [email protected]

[Chugalug2]

It seems that Blake Way changed to Blake Avenue, but can be seen to be an ongoing Barratt development in Google Maps street view:-

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Blake+Ave,+Basildon,+Essex+SS14/@51.5733659,0.4538304,17.25z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x47d8c694302587d3:0x8fd83a2183cd82ff?hl=en

JA, alas I have no knowledge of the family information that you seek, but information can be exchanged by means of PPRuNe personal mail. Once you have logged in, find the member's name link with whom you wish to communicate, click on it and select view public profile, and then the contact info tab displayed. Private Messages to you can be seen in your own welcome block at top right of the page, where the number of unread messages are displayed. Click on that and you can then read them. Hope that helps.

AL1. Having just tried that in your case it seems I can't contact you by pm, only by email. I assume that is because you are still in a probationary period. In the meantime the same procedure above allows email communication.

[Union Jack]

Not directly relevant I know, but calling more junior officers "Admiral" in a jocular sense still occurs.:) Alternatively, it's also interesting to conjecture whether Arthur Giles Blake might have been known as "Admiral" as a somewhat oblique nod to Robert Blake, Oliver Cromwell's "General at Sea".

Despite never having been officially entitled "Admiral", Robert Blake was in the event one of the Royal Navy's most effective and successful officers of flag rank, and was indeed acknowledged as "Father of the Royal Navy". :ok:

Jack

[pauneave1]

Dear Victoria,
My name is Paul Neave. I am a reenactor in the UK, have been for 6yrs now. It was reading about your great uncle and the other FAA pilots that were seconded to the RAF during the Battle of Britain. In fact Blake inspired me into representing the FAA and is a hero of mine. I would love to know more about him.
Over the past 5yrs I have researched and tried to find as much information on Arthur as I can and have also looked into your family tree on Ancestry.co.uk. Plus it was a great honour to find Arthur's grave back in 2012. As I am from Reading every time I go to visit my family, I pay a visit to Arthur. It is also a focal point to pay my respects to Richard Cork, who was Arthur's great friend. They both went to Slough Grammar School, joined the Royal Navy together, went on the same flying courses before Arthur went to 19Sqn at Duxford and Richard went to 242Sqn at Coltshall. But during the day time 242sqn Flew to Duxford during the battle of Britain as they were part of the Duxford Wing.
I know Arthur was greatly respected by everyone. CO Brian Lane wrote' it is a great loss to the Sqn. He was well liked by all, as well as a pilot of exceptional ability'. Others said ' Arthur was not a 'gung ho' press on fighter boy beloved by the press at the time. He was quietly spoken, justifiably self-confident and amiable with all ranks in the sqn, without being patronising. He was a brave and capable pilot'. This is from an excellent book called Royal Navy Aces of WW2 by Andrew Thomas, published by Osprey. I also read that around his death he had been recommended for a DFC. Did he ever receive
it?
About 2013 a friend for mine saw the ad for information that Barret Homes were naming a road after him and Clare Winterflood contacted me. I gave her as much info as possible, not knowing if any family existed. Because the grave was never seamed to be tended by anyone either.
Look forward to hearing from you. My email is [email protected]

All the best

Paul Neave