Town of Raymond, Maine

The Town of Raymond and the British & Commonwealth Remembrance Project request the honor of your presence at a dedication ceremony to remember the service and sacrifice made by 2 Royal Navy pilots who perished in Sebago Lake when they crashed during a WWII training exercise on May 18, 1944.

 

Four planes were flying that day in formation from Brunswick Naval Air Station where Royal Navy Aircrew were training with American pilots for combat.  While practicing emergency landing procedures over Sebago Lake, two of the aircraft collided.  Both pilots, Sub Lt Vaughn Reginald Gill and Sub Lt Raymond L Knott, perished. The site was declared a war grave in 2003 by the State of Maine and the British Government.

 

The ceremony will be held at Veterans Memorial Park, 1294 Roosevelt Trl, Raymond, Maine, on May 17, 2024, at 11:30 in the morning.

 

Attendees include members of Sub Lt Gill’s family, Dr Peter Abbott OBE (the British Consul General to New England), Cdr Derek Powles RN (Assistant British Naval Attache Washington DC), and representatives of the British Officers Club of New England as well as dignitaries from the US and Maine government.