William Wilfred Parr (23 April 1915 – 8 March 1942) was an England amateur International footballer and an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as an

outside right Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. T ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. He joined Arsenal in May 1939 but his first game with the team was not until almost a year later during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in April 1940 at Southend. He then joined the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF ...

England amateur football career

Parr took part in the 1937 Tour of New Zealand, Australia and Ceylon by the England Amateur National Team.

Death

A Sergeant in the

, Parr was one of three crewmen on board the

Lockheed Hudson V The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...

serial number ''AM535'' of

No. 233 Squadron RAF No. 233 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that operated from 1918–1919, 1937–1945, 1952–1957 and 1960–1964. The squadron was formed from several Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) flights and took part in the tail end of the First ...

based at

RAF St Eval Royal Air Force St. Eval or RAF St. Eval was a Royal Air Force station for the RAF Coastal Command, southwest of Padstow in Cornwall, England, UK. St Eval's primary role was to provide anti-submarine and anti-shipping patrols off the south wes ...

, who were killed when it crashed in a field at Lower Treburrick Farm,

St Ervan ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

, four miles north east of

RAF St Mawgan Royal Air Force St Mawgan or more simply RAF St Mawgan is a Royal Air Force station near St Mawgan and Newquay in Cornwall, England. In 2008 the runway part of the site was handed over to Newquay Airport. The remainder of the station continues to ...

in Cornwall, on the night of 8 March 1942. The three airmen were conducting a training exercise, but overshot the airfield and crashed, killing pilot Parr and the other two on board.

References

External links

1915 births 1942 deaths English men's footballers England men's amateur international footballers Blackpool F.C. players Dulwich Hamlet F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football outside forwards Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Footballers from Blackpool Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1942 Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Military personnel from Lancashire British World War II bomber pilots Royal Air Force airmen {{england-footy-forward-1910s-stub