A Russian Prince is to have a statue of him erected in Ipswich, I knew of him as a Rugby player, but did not know he had died in a crashing Hurricane. Full story here, http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/conten...gory=News&itemid=IPED01 Apr 2008 11:03:00:163
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
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
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.
Someone who played against Obolensky, who also then joined up and ended up in the RAF: Vesey Boyle | Times Online Obituary Squadron Leader Vesey Boyle - Telegraph
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
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
I can't find a code but it maybe worth asking over on RafCommands Forums - Powered by vBulletin A great bunch of guys who maybe able to help
Welcome Lysander, hope you enjoy it here. Nicky Barr would have had a lot to talk to the prince about had they ever met.
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
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.
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
Here's the statue of/to him. Rugby Union | England | Rugby News | Obolensky honoured with statue | Scrum.com