Flight Sergeant Peter Purves

Flight Sergeant Peter Purves, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He died in a flying accident on 3rd June 1945, aged 20 and is buried in Birgham Churchyard. He was the son of Jane Renton Brown and the stepson of John Brown of 74 High Street, Coldstream. He is also commemorated on the Coldstream War  Memorial. Before joining the R.A.F. in early 1944 he had been a keen member of the Air Training Corps and was employed as a plumber in Coldstream.  He was a Flight Engineer in an Operational Refresher Training Unit and his Halifax bomber was involved in a mid air collision with a Wellington bomber from 81 Operational Training Unit. Both aircraft crashed near Peterborough. The photograph shows the Coldstream Section of the A.T.C. in 1942 under the command of John Jamieson who was the Headmaster of Coldstream School. (The author’s uncle Nichol Murray is also pictured. He went on to pilot the B 24 Liberator bomber with Coastal Command on anti submarine duties).