Pilot Officer - Royal Air Force - 105 Squadron - Service Number 62301
Victor Eric George Phillips was born on 1st January 1919 in Marylebone, London. His father was George Phillips, a Bank Clerk, and his mother was Alice (née Doughty). The first school that he attended was Cobham House School in Gravesend.
In 1930 Victor Phillips joined The County School for Boys – now known as Gravesend Grammar School. The Head Master at that time was the Reverend Samuel Lister. The County School for Boys was located in Darnley Road, Gravesend close to the Railway Station (now the Victoria Centre for Education). In 1938 the School moved to brand new premises in Church Walk, Milton, Gravesend opposite to Milton Church.
The School’s Admission Register lists Victor’s address as 28 Lingfield Road, Gravesend. Whilst at the School, Victor was in Downs House.
In 1935 Victor left the School and started work at the Westminster Bank in Gillingham. The 1939 Census lists him living in Bournemouth with his parents and working as a Bank Clerk, his father had retired.
In World War Two he enlisted in the Royal Air Force, Service Number 62301. He joined 105 Squadron as a Pilot Officer.
105 Squadron flew Blenheims out of RAF Swanton Morley, Norfolk in 1941, as part of No 2 Group, Bomber Command, taking part in low-level daylight raids against enemy shipping, ports and airfields. Victor Phillips was shot down off Terschelling, one of the West Frisian Islands in the northern Netherlands, on 7th June 1941. He was 22 years old. He is remembered at the Runnymede Memorial Panel 34.
Three other students from the same Form as Victor Phillips were killed in action during World War Two, Barry Jarvis, Bertie Kemp and Roy Robinson.
There are links below to Newspaper Clippings and Photographs from the Gravesend Grammar School Archives.
Below are links to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and a few other websites that might be of interest:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1804323/phillips,-victor-eric-george/
https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/222307/
http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=102678