Memorials & Monuments
on the Isle of Wight
- Biography -
- Gerald Frank Locke -

Isle of Wight Chronicle

March 13th, 1941.
Joined the R.A.F.
Mr Gerald Locke, younger son of Mr and Mrs Gordon Locke, of 29 Avenue Road, Sandown, left last week to train as a pilot in the Royal Air Force. All the male members of the family are now serving in H.M. Forces.
Mr Locke, an old pupil of the Sandown Secondary School was employed on the clerical staff of the I.W. Electric Light and Power Company and was well known in local football circles. He has played as a forward for Apse Heath and Sandown, and during the present season has been assisting Cowes F.C.

Isle of Wight Chronicle

September 4th, 1941.
Sandown Man in Hospital.
Leading Aircraftsman Gerald Locke, R.A.F., younger son of Mr and Mrs Gordon Locke, of 29 Avenue Road, Sandown, is in hospital in Scotland, receiving treatment for appendicitis. His many friends in this district will be pleased to learn that he is making satisfactory progress towards recovery.
Gerald was promoted to his present rank not long ago and his unfortunate illness has been very disappointing to him as he was due to make his first solo flight on Monday. Before joining the Royal Air Force in March last he was employed on the electrical staff of the I.W. Electric Light and Power Company Ltd. He was well-known in local football circles.

Isle of Wight Chronicle

March 19th, 1942.
Local Airmen Meet in U.S.A.
The meeting of two brothers-in-law from the Sandown district at an R.A.F. training centre in western America affords another interesting example of the coincidence for which the exigencies of the present conflict are occasionally responsible.
The young men concerned in the fortuitous encounter were Pilot Officer Harold Taylor, of Apse Heath, and Leading Aircraftman Gerald Locke, younger son of Mr and Mrs Gordon Locke of 29 Avenue Road, Sandown, both of whom are well known to many of our readers. Pilot Officer Taylor who concluded a fortnight's leave last week end, received his wings in January after six months' training in the U.S.A., and it was on the day of departure from the flying station there that he met Leading Aircraftsman Locke just arriving for a similar course of instruction with a new batch of trainees. They had only a very brief time together but spent a happy time comparing notes on their experiences.
Pilot Officer Taylor, who joined the R.A.F. in May last, is the youngest son of Mr John Taylor, of Apse Heath. He is an old pupil of the Sandown Secondary School and is well known locally as an able baritone vocalist. He experienced a grand time in the States, where the striking hospitality of the authorities and the people included a visit to a pre-view of the film 'A Yank in the R.A.F.', showing in Sandown this week-end. This occasion was rendered memorable by the fact that the trainees were driven to the cinema in a fleet of cars escorted by police on motor cycles with sirens sounding continuous in the best motion picture manner.

Isle of Wight Chronicle

December 10th, 1942.
Sandown Man in the 'News'.
The Portsmouth 'Evening News' published on the front page of its editions of Tuesday a picture of a group of eight Royal Air Force pupils, all Hampshire men, at an aviation training school in Texas. The men, all wearing flying helmets are posed, some on and some standing beside an aeroplane and prominent amongst them, looking cheerful and fit, is L.A.C. Gerald F. Locke, younger son of Mr and Mrs Gordon Locke, of 29 Avenue Road, Sandown. L.A.C. Locke joined the R.A.F. in March 1941 and was previously on the electrical staff of the I.W. Electrical Light and Power Company Ltd.

Isle of Wight Chronicle

December 23rd, 1942.
Promoted to Serg.-Pilot.
With reference to our note in this column recently regarding the publication in a Portsmouth newspaper of a picture of a group of R.A.F. trainees taken in Texas and including L.A.C. Gerald F. Locke, of Sandown, we are informed that since the photograph was taken he has gained his wings and has been promoted Sergeant Pilot. Sergt-Pilot Locke, who is the younger son of Mr and Mrs Gordon Locke, of 29 Avenue Road, has returned to this country and expects to be home on leave again after Christmas. His brother, Pte. Ken Locke, R.A.O.C., is serving in the Middle East and in a wire home received on Friday expresses himself fit and well. Mr and Mrs Locke's youngest daughter Doreen is a Leading Aircraftwoman in the W.A.A.F.

Isle of Wight Chronicle

June 10th, 1943.
Sandown Airman Presumed Drowned.
We regret to learn that Sergt.-Pilot Gerald Locke R.A.F., younger son of Mr and Mrs Gordon Locke, of 29 Avenue Road, Sandown, is reported presumed Drowned. Gerald was found to be missing after an operational flight and though careful search was made there was no trace of him or the machine he was flying. He was 21 last March, a former pupil of Sandown Secondary School, a keen footballer and was employed by the I.W. Electric Light and Power Company before entering the R.A.F. He went out to Canada [sic] for training and while there met his brother-in-law Harold Taylor, of Apse Heath, who, it will be recalled, was killed on an operational flight.