Arthur John Thurgood, known as Clem, joined the RAF during WW2 and did his initial pilot training in Florida. Part of Course 19, he started training on February 6, 1944 and graduated (received his Wings) on August 26, 1944. Course 19’s ‘Listening Out’ supplement in Flypaper August 15, 1944, refers to the Course as “The Notorious 19th”. Arthur married Dorothy in 1945 and they celebrated their Diamond wedding in 2005. Dorothy died in 2011.



After the war, Arthur joined the City of St Albans Police Force and his two daughters, Linda and Susan, were born in St Albans. After integration of the St Albans Police Force into the Hertfordshire Police Force, he served in Hemel Hempstead, Letchworth, St Albans again, and then Watford. Finally, on promotion to Inspector, he returned to Hemel Hempstead where he remained for nine years before retiring in 1975 aged 52.