Date of birth:

October 27th, 1913 (London, England)

Date of death:

August 11th, 1940 (English Channel near Cherbourg, France)

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Graves Quiberville
Grave: 6.

Service number:

90137

Nationality:

British

Flying Officer
Royal Air Force (Auxiliary Air Force)
145 Sqdn.

Educated at Eton, like his father, GR Branch then went up to Balliol College, Oxford. He joined 601 Squadron, AAF in late 1936 and was commissioned in May 1937.

On 11th February 1937 he was on an instructional cross-country flight in a Demon with F/O Aidan Crawley. After refuelling at RAF Netheravon they took off in poor weather, just missed the hangars and crashed in flames on the road nearby. Branch extricated himself from the wreckage but, finding Crawley still trapped, went back into the flames and pulled him out.
For this act he was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal (gazetted 25th March 1938).

After the German attack opened on 10th May, Branch was sent as a member of 'A' Flight to operate from Merville in France but they did not arrive till the 17th.
Late on this day AA fire seperated him from the rest of the patrol and he became lost, eventually setting his Hurricane N2435 down, out of fuel, near Aire, SE of St. Omer.

On 20th May he was shot down by return fire from a Do17. He baled out from Hurricane P2699 and came down at Izel-les-Equerchin, west of Douai.
He was posted to 145 Squadron, also based at Tangmere, on 1st June.

On 15th July 1940 Branch shared in the probable destruction of a Do17 and on 8th August he claimed the destruction of two Ju87s.
He failed to return from a combat south of Swanage on 11th August. His Hurricane, P2951, crashed into the sea. Branch's body was not washed ashore until 15th September 1940, at Quiberville, west of Dieppe on the French coast.

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Rank:

Pilot Officer

Awarded on:

March 25th, 1938

On 9th January, 1938 an aircraft in which Pilot Officer Branch was a passenger crashed at Upavon, Wiltshire, and immediately burst into flames. Having extricated himself from the burning aircraft this officer found that the pilot was trapped in the cockpit by his legs. Despite the danger of the petrol tank exploding, Pilot Officer Branch returned to the blazing wreckage and, whilst actually standing on burning debris, succeeded in extracting the pilot. There is little doubt that this prompt and gallant act saved the pilot's life. The aircraft was completely destroyed by fire.

• Photo 1: The Battle of Britain Monument
• Photo 2: Hans Sijtsma
• - Guy Rawstron Branch | War Casualty Details 2689061 | CWGC
  - Guy Rawstron Branch | THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN LONDON MONUMENT
  

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