Pilot Officer, RAF
Born: September 28th 1920
Died: June 7th 1942
Age at Death: 21
Missing in raid on Emden, June 7th 1942
House Prefect 1928
Swimming 8 1936-1937
John Holdsworth was born on 28 September 1920 to Gilbert Holdsworth and his wife Adelaide (née Chambers). At the College he was House Prefect and in the Swimming VIII.
During the war he flew first in Wellingtons and then in Short Stirling bombers for 214 Squadron, based at RAF Stradishall. He was lucky to survive the disastrous raid by the squadron on the railway yards at Hanau in Germany on the night of 1/2 April 1942, when it lost seven planes, but was killed two months later on a mission to bomb Emden, crashing into the sea off Terschelling, an island off the Dutch mainland. His elder brother Frank died three years later, also while serving in the RAF. Holdsworth is commemorated at the Runnymede Air Forces Memorial.