SILVESTER John Tristram

Appears on the Royal Air Force casualties list for Worcestershire.

John Silvester was born on 6th September 1918 one of 9 children of John and Alice Sylvester, 4 girls and 5 boys. The family resided at Little Acton Farm near Stourport. He attended Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School at Hartlebury from September 1930 where he excelled at various sports including hockey, cricket and football. After leaving the school in the summer of 1937, he entered Saltley College, Birmingham to commence teacher training, qualifying in 1939. Prior to enlisting in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1940 he worked as a teacher for Worcestershire County Council.

On 14th February 1941 John was serving with 58 Operational Training Unit based at RAF Grangemouth in Scotland. Piloting Spitfire L1059 he took off from the base on a training flight. With the cloud base at 700 feet and visibility just one to two miles, he was unable to locate the aerodrome in the misty conditions and apparently lost control during a turn in the hills causing the aircraft to dive in to the ground near farm buildings at Hillhead, Slamannan. He was killed instantly, the aircraft bursting into flames on impact. John’s body was later recovered by the Royal Air Force and returned for burial in the churchyard at Ombersley.

His death was reported in the Worcester Evening News, 15th February 1941.

A letter from John Silvester’s mother, M. Silvester, Little Acton Farm, Stourport on Severn dated 22nd March 1952 can be found within war records held at Worcestershire Archives requesting that his name be added to the county roll of honour.  The letter states that Sergeant Pilot John Tristram Silvester, RAF, service no 956162 was killed in a flying accident on 14th February 1941.