Visit to Undercliffe Cemetery

Year 9 students visited Undercliffe Cemetery to place poppies on the graves of fallen soldiers from our local area in preparation for Remembrance Day.  Undercliffe Cemetery is the final resting place for a considerable number of ex-students who served in each of the two world wars. 

For example, the photo above shows the grave of Sergeant Pilot Allan Gill

Served in Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve  Advanced Flying Unit

Lived at 5 Thornton Buildings, Bradford

Died 9th July 1944 age 21

Service Number 1458819

Commemorated at Undercliffe Cemetery, Bradford

Allan was born on the 1st of October 1922 in Bradford. His parents were Fred Gill and Annie Coyne. They married in Bradford in 1919. Allan had a younger sister Dorothy, born in 1927.  On the 1921 Census, before his birth, his parents lived at 17 Park Gate, Bradford. His father was 44 years old and employed as an Electrical Motor Fitter at Wilson Wolf Engineering and died in 1941. His mother, Annie, was 29 years old.

Allan was a process clerk at Jowett Cars Ltd, Idle (where Morrisons now stands)  In 1944, he married Edith Godfrey in Bradford whilst in service. His sister Dorothy married Norman Broadbent in 1952. They had 5 children, the eldest is called Allan, who we can assume is named after his deceased uncle.  

Allan had been in the RAF for two and a half years, and got his wings in Canada.  He was a Sergeant Pilot in the aircraft Oxford I NM230, and like so many others was killed in a tragic accident rather than in active service. The plane hit a tree descending in the cloud at night near Kemble (which is close to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire).  The Airspeed Oxford was primarily used for training purposes. It was designed as a multi-role aircraft suitable for both training and transport.