Sub-Lieutenant (A) Richard Frank TOWNEND (1936)

811 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service
Born 8 October 1917 in Darjeeling, India.
Missing, presumed killed 9 August 1942, aged 24
Commemorated on the Lee-on-Solent Memorial; also on Great Leighs War Memorial, Essex.

Richard Townend was the son of Herbert Patrick Victor Townend and Lettice Joan, née Bevington.

He was educated at Haileybury School, Hertford, and came up to Merton with a Postmastership in 1936, taking a first in Classical Mods in 1938.

HMS Condor was a Royal Naval Air Station at Arbroath in Scotland where crews were trained in signals and deck landings. Townend was an Observer with 811 Squadron RNAS, and was reported missing, presumed killed after an operational flight over the North Sea.