Glyn Jones – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Sergeant Glyn Jones – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Early Life and Family Background

Glyn Jones was born in 1911 in Swansea, the son of Henry Edward Jones and Elizabeth Jane Evans, who had married in 1906.

1911 Census

The 1911 Census records the family living at 150 Trewyddfa Road, Graig, Landore, where Henry Edward, aged thirty‑three, worked as a stone mason, and Elizabeth Jane, aged twenty‑eight, managed the household. Their children at the time were David Henry, aged two, and a newborn baby—Glyn—less than a month old. Also present was a visitor, Gwenllian Morgan, aged twenty‑six.

1921 Census

By the 1921 Census, the family remained at 150 Trewyddfa Road. Henry Edward, now forty‑three, was employed as a mason and bricklayer with the Anglo‑Persian Oil Company at Skewen, though recorded as out of work at the time. Elizabeth Jane, aged thirty‑eight, continued to manage the home. Their sons David Henry, aged thirteen, and Glyn, aged ten, were both present, along with Elizabeth’s father, David Evans, aged sixty‑seven.

In 1934, Glyn married Ceriwen Johns, establishing his own household as the interwar years unfolded.

Military Service – Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Glyn entered wartime service as a Sergeant with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, stationed at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray. Lossiemouth was a major training and operational airfield, central to RAF bomber and coastal operations during the Second World War.

Fatal Crash at RAF Lossiemouth

Vickers Wellington IC

On 8 November 1942, Glyn Jones lost his life when the Vickers Wellington IC bomber in which he was flying crashed close to the airfield at Lossiemouth following an engine failure during a night flying exercise. Three members of the crew survived, but four others were killed alongside Glyn:

• Flight Sergeant Bernard Henry Batten Wilkins, buried at Lossiemouth Burial Ground

• Sergeant Arnold Ernest Davies, buried at Leicester Road Cemetery, Loughborough

• Sergeant Joe Holderness, buried at Lossiemouth Burial Ground

• Sergeant Ian Dugald MacLean, buried at Lossiemouth Burial Ground

The accident was one of many training losses suffered by RAF bomber crews during the war, reflecting the dangers faced even far from the front lines.

Burial

Glyn Jones’s body was brought home to Swansea, where he was laid to rest at Morriston Cemetery, among the many airmen whose lives were lost during the conflict.