Obituary

The horrible affair of the shooting of 50 British RAF officers by the Germans will probably decrease any leniency which Commandos and others of the Second Front forces might have felt inclined to display towards their prisoners. It should also bring home to every man and woman in this country the desperate need to do everything in their power to assist the war effort and end the Nazi regime.

We, in particular, have lost Flt Lt E Gordon-Brethell, who was one of the officers who were shot. Brethell started competitive motoring while he was at Cambridge and, later, in conjunction with Peter Monkhouse and Monaco Ltd, evolved a very effective supercharged Austin Seven single-seater, with which he won a 1937 Easter Mountain handicap, lapping at over 64 mph, and a 1938 Whitsun road handicap, lapping at 62.87 mph. It was on this car that he went over the top of the Members’ Banking while braking rather late in a Mountain race on Whit Monday, 1937. He was co-opted to the ERA Club committee just before the war, and did useful work. He was also very keen on amateur theatricals.

It was natural that Brethell should have taken part in the RAF attacks on Germany, but very sad that he should have paid the supreme penalty in such disgusting circumstances. To his parents and friends, our deepest condolences.