Person    | Male  Born 21/9/1912  Died 10/4/1942

John Ayer

Countries: USA

War dead, WW2 i

Commemorated on a memorial as having died in WW2.

Flying Officer John Butler Ayer was born on 21 September 1912 in Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine, USA. He was the second of the three children of Fred Rollins Ayer (1880-1936) and Eleanor Frances Ayer née Butler (1885-1970).

United States Federal Census returns show that in 1930 he was resident in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and in 1940 in Neenah, Winnebago County, Wisconsin.

He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 83702, as a Pilot Officer, in Ottawa, Canada, and served in No.71 Squadron. He gained promotion to Flying Officer and died, aged 21 years, on 10 April 1942 when flying a Spitfire aircraft attached to No.1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit. that went missing while engaged on photograph reconnaissance over the French coast. 

As he has no known grave he commemorated on Panel 66 of the Runnymede Memorial, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey and on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.

Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
John Ayer

Commemorated ati

Eagle Squadrons

{On the front of the pillar, facing north, into the square, below a carved im...

Read More

Other Subjects

Francis Crick

Francis Crick

Molecular biologist. Born Francis Harry Compton Crick at Holmgarth, Holmfield Way, Weston Favell, near Northampton. He met James Watson at Cambridge in the early 1950s where they worked on the stru...

Person, Science, USA

1 memorial
Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler

Novelist. Born in Chicago, Illinois. After his father abandoned the family, his mother moved him to Britain to further his education, At Dulwich College. He worked for a while at the Admiralty, but...

Person, Literature, Canada, France, USA

1 memorial
William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst

Born San Francisco. A self-made, extremely wealthy newspaper man. The model for Citizen Kane.

Person, Journalism / Publishing, USA

1 memorial
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

Explorer. Born in the Republic of Genoa (his birth date is approximate). From 1492 to 1504, he made four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of the monarchs of Spain. These voyages...

Person, Exploring, Race Issues, Seriously Famous, Caribbean Islands, Cuba, Italy, Spain, USA

1 memorial
Captain Thomas Coram

Captain Thomas Coram

Born Lyme Regis, Dorset, where there is now a commemorative tower. Pioneer in the cause of child welfare. He became a Captain in the Merchant Navy trading between England and America. For several ...

Person, Children, Social Welfare, USA

3 memorials

Previously viewed

T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Poet and publisher. Born Saint Louis, Missouri as Thomas Stearns Eliot. His works include: The Waste Land, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (on which Lloyd Webber based Cats), Murder in the Cath...

Person, Literature, Poetry, Seriously Famous, Theatre, USA

7 memorials
J. McEnery

J. McEnery

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial