Hugh Graham Stanhope Wyrill was born on 30 August 1919 in Putney, London, a son of Arthur Stanhope Wyrill (1886-1959) and Lilla Gertrude Wyrill née Simmonds (1887-1967). His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1919 in the Wandsworth Registration District, London.
In the 1921 census he is shown as aged 1 year 10 months and living at 2a Park Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, with his parents and his elder brother Richard Paul Stanhope Wyrill (b.1916), together with a nurse/housemaid. His father described himself as engineer and merchant's representative employed by F. A. Hughes & Co. Ltd., at 8 Regent Street, London, SW1.
He was shown in the 1939 England and Wales Register as an industrial chemist and also as an Aircraftman Second Class (AC2) in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 900877, attached to No.1 Squadron, living at 39 Cranbourne Gardens, Hendon, Middlesex (now Greater London), with his mother.
Having obtained the rank of Leading Aircraftman, on 2 December 1940 he was and his service number was changed to 89626. He was later promoted to Flying Officer and was attached to No.255 Squadron. informs that on 25 April 1942 he was flying a Bristol Beaufighter mark 2 aeroplane, serial number X7933, that took off from RAF High Ercall, Shropshire, and shot down a Junkers JU-88A-6 aeroplane.
On 30 October 1942 he was for having 'displayed great keenness and devotion to duty in night-flying operations. He has destroyed 2 enemy aircraft. He has set a most praiseworthy example'.
His squadron moved on 15 November 1942 to Maison Blanche Airfield, Algeria, where on 20 November 1942 he was killed, aged 23 years, by a bomb splinter during a German enemy air raid by Junkers JU-88s aeroplanes as he was going out to his Bristol Beaufighter Mk VIF to take off. He was in the Dely Ibrahim War Cemetery, Sidi M'Hamed District, Algiers, Algeria.
Probate records confirm that his address had been 39 Cranbourne Gardens, Temple Fortune, Middlesex. Administration of his estate was granted on 8 May 1943 to his mother and his effects totalled £1,105-9s-9d.
He is shown as 'WYRILL H.G.S.' on the Hendon war memorial at Watford Way, London, NW2. He is also commemorated on the and on the .
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them