Geoffrey Gaunt
Geoffrey Norman Gaunt was a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain. He served in the RAF as part of No. 609 Squadron West Riding of Yorkshire Squadron RAF. He was killed in action on 15 September 1940. Gaunt was from a well-known textile family and screen star James Mason was a cousin. He was buried in his family plot at Salendine Nook Baptist Church with his grandparents and later his father was also buried there in 1958. He was good friends with David Moore Crook. Geoffrey Norman Gaunt served with 609 Squadron Auxiliary Air Force before the war and received some flying training with the unit. He was commissioned into the Auxiliary Air Force in April 1940 and completed his training at the Flying Training School at Cranwell, Lincolnshire in June and July 1940. Gaunt then went to 7 Operational Training Unit at Hawarden, near RAF Sealand, in the North Wales-Chester area. After converting to Spitfire Mark Ones there, Geoffrey Gaunt rejoined 609 Spitfire Squadron on 16 August 1940 at Warmwell in Dorset, close to Weymouth, for the protection of Portland Naval Base and places from Bristol, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall. Earlier, in May 1940 609 West Riding