Nuttall, James Holden - Flight Sergeant

"No soldier photo available"

14 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died 3 June 1943

Age 27

Flight Sergeant James Nuttall was one of seven crew of a Marauder medium bomber which took off from its base in Tunisia on a reconnaissance mission in the area of the Mediterranean east of Sardinia. The aircraft was reported missing at 15-30 hours on 3 June 1943. Neither the cause, nor the location, was ever discovered.

James was the son of William Henry and Hannah Nuttall. He was aged 27. After attencing Haslingden Council School, James worked at Messrs. J.H. Birtwistle's Grane Road mill, where his father was an overlooker. James himself was an overlooker when he joined the R.A.F.V.R. in July 1941. He had been serving in North Africa for twelve months. He had been in North Africa only two weeks when he was a member of the crew of a bomber which had the unique distinction of acting as a fighter and so outfought an Italian Caprioni bomber and drove it into the sea.

James is commemorated on the Malta Memorial, Malta. The Memorial is in Floriana, just outside Valletta, the capital of Malta. It is in the form of a column 15 metres high, which is surrounded by a bronze eagle two metres high. There are almost 2,300 names on bronze panels on the circular base. James is named on Panel 7, Column 2.