FLT/SGT L.A. WINDRESS

FIRST NAMES: Louis Arthur

NUMBER: 1671468

RANK: Flight Sergeant

UNIT: 53 Squadron RAF

DOB:1923

OCCUPATION: Clerk

STATUS: Killed in Action

DATE OF DEATH: 18th November 1944

WHERE BURIED: Commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial

MEDALS: 1939-45 Star, Atlantic Star, Victory Medal, Defence Medal


Louis Windress was born in 1923 in Northallerton and was the son of Arthur and Margaret Windress. The family moved to Springwell Terrace West, Northallerton, when Louis was very young. He attended the Applegarth School and later passed the scholarship for the Grammar School. In 1939 he left school and began work as a clerk at the County Hall .

As soon as he was old enough, Louis volunteered for the RAF and after initial training he was accepted for aircrew. On completion of his flying course as pilot, he was posted to No 53 Squadron, the same squadron as John Randall, another ex-Grammar School boy who had joined at the beginning of the war. When John Randall flew with No 53 Squadron in 1940, they were operating Blenhiem light bombers in a recconassaince role. When Louis joined the squadron, at RAF Thorney Island in Hampshire, they had converted to the American four engined Liberator, on maritime and anti submarine patrols. The squadron moved to St. Eval in Cornwall and it was from there, on the 18th of November 1944, that Louis Windress and his crew were detailed for an anti-submarine patrol off Iceland.

They failed to return. Another Liberator searched the area and noticed the nose wheel of a Liberator floating in the sea. Louis and his crew were reported missing.

Louis Windress is remembered in the Central Church of the Royal Air Force St. Clement Danes, London, the RAF Memorial at Runnymede, the Northallerton War Memorial the Memorial in the Church of All Saints, the Grammar School Memorial Plaque, and the NALGO Memorial in County Hall.

Louis was aged 21 years.