Prince Obolensky

Discussion in 'World War 2' started by 51highland, Apr 2, 2008.

  1. 51highland

    51highland Member

  2. BC1

    BC1 New Member

    Think his Hurri overturned on landing - or was this the a/c which hit a house at Playford ? I know it was early 1940.
    When I visited to photograph the war graves at Ipswich a couple of years ago there were flowers on his grave. His grave is among a group of early RAF fatalities buried under a small copse of trees. From 1942 onwards the service casualties were all buried in a central burial plot in the southern part of the Cemetery.

    BC
     
  3. spidge

    spidge Active Member

    In Memory of
    Pilot Officer H.H. Prince ALEXANDER OBOLENSKY

    91075, 54 Sqdn., Royal Air Force (Auxiliary Air Force)
    who died age 24
    on 29 March 1940
    Son of H.H. Prince Serge Obolensky and of H.H. Princess Luba Obolensky (nee Narishchkine), of Muswell Hill, Middlesex. A Rugby player, H.H. Prince Alexander played four times for England scoring two tries in the 1936 match against the "All Blacks". He also played Rugby for Oxford, where he gained a "Blue". The Prince was killed in a Hurricane Mark 1 at Martlesham Heath. He was born in St. Petersburg on 17th February 1916.
    Remembered with honour
    IPSWICH CEMETERY
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Kyt

    Kyt Άρης

    His CWGC entry, as posted by Spidge above, ahs to be one of the most detailed I've ever seen. I've never seen actual cause of death posted in the notes section before.

    The actual serial that is most often cited seems to conflict with the details in the reference books, so I shall have to have a dig to see whether the Hurricane was repaired. L1946, in which died, is listed as having been lost 01/10/1940 with 55 OTU.
     
  5. Kyt

    Kyt Άρης

  6. BC1

    BC1 New Member

    Spidge:

    I think you'll find the picture you used actually shows the WW 1 Cemetery at Ipswich; the main WW 2 military plot for service casualties from 1942 onwards is closeby. The spot where Obolensky is buried is in the North part of the Cemetery, beneath a small copse of trees and with some pre-WW 2 RAF graves closeby.

    BC
     
  7. Lysander

    Lysander Guest

    Price Obolensky

    Hi All
    I am doing research on Prince Obolensky as i shall make a model of the Hurricane mk1 that he crashed in.
    I have found out that he was with 504 sqn RAFA out of Denby at the time on week about detachments to Martlesham heath, a/c ser was P1946 code TM-? This was a Hurricane Mk1 with rotol twin blade wooden prop and fabric wings, one of the first batch made.
    all this tally’s with records and 504 sqn had P1931 and P1950 on strength at the time.
    The Model is for a fellow work mate; he has loads of things on this chap as he collects Rugby things. I shall let him know about you playing with the Prince.
    If any one can help with the A/C code that would help, as it will say a trip to Kew in a few weeks.
    Aim all so looking in to 582 sqn and 109 sqn out of Little Staunton as the chaps mum was there in the war, at the time she was engaged to W/C Gibbsons Nav on the Dams Raid.
    Thanks Lysander
     
  8. Kyt

    Kyt Άρης

  9. Antipodean Andy

    Antipodean Andy New Member

    Welcome Lysander, hope you enjoy it here.

    Nicky Barr would have had a lot to talk to the prince about had they ever met.
     
  10. David Layne

    David Layne Active Member

    Is that the Obolensky obelisk I observe?
     
  11. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the height of the First World War, on February 17, 1916. His parents were Prince Sergei Alexandrovitch Obolensky and his wife Princess Luba..... their newborn entered a world of privilege - his father was an aide-de-camp to the Governor General of Moscow, and an officer of Tsar Nicholas II’s Imperial Horse Guards

    Alexander Obolensky - the Russian Prince was a pupil at Trent College in Long Eaton, Derbyshire. He became an unikely hero of English rugby union, and one of the school's most celebrated 'old boys'

    In 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, Obolensky signed up for the Royal Air Force. On 29th March 1940, his spitfire crashed on Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, resulting in a broken neck from which he died the same day, aged 24
     
  12. liverpool annie

    liverpool annie New Member

    The picture didn't upload ... try again .....
     
  13. 51highland

    51highland Member

    Obolensky's grave

    Found Obolensky grave while taking a pic or 2 for Spidge's project, Obolensky is buried in same area as Aussie W R Phillips, in the general civilian part of the cemetery.
     

    Attached Files:

  14. David Layne

    David Layne Active Member

    A statue remembering the England rugby legend and pilot Prince Alexander Obolensky, who died during World War II in Suffolk, has been unveiled.

    The Russian became a hero in 1936 at the age of 19, scoring two tries on his international debut in England's first victory over New Zealand's All Blacks.

    The £50,000 bronze memorial takes pride of place in Cromwell Square, Ipswich.

    It has been paid for by several private backers including Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich.

    The prince and his family had fled Russia at the time of the revolution in 1917 and settled in Muswell Hill, north London.

    'Absolutely devastated'

    In 1939, he joined the RAF but died a year later, aged 24, when his Hurricane fighter crash-landed at Martlesham Heath airfield near Ipswich. He is buried in the town.

    The statue was unveiled by his niece, Princess Alexandra Obolensky, whose father Michael was the prince's younger brother.

    She said: "It was almost too painful for my grandparents to discuss him when I was a child.

    "My grandparents were absolutely devastated by his death and my father adored him.

    "Who knows what he would have achieved but for the war?"


    BBC NEWS | UK | England | Suffolk | Rugby hero pilot statue unveiled
     
  15. 51highland

    51highland Member

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