M.47 * First Officer  Arthur Wesley Coombs 

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 b. 21 Feb 1912, Tipperary  8 Apr 1940 to 30 Nov 1940 

        

Father: Major Arthur Gundry Coombs MC [d. 1937]

prev. Pilot Officer, RAFVR & Civil Service. DPO Ministry of Mines, Reading 1937-40

4 May 1939, The Cornishman:

"FALSE PRETENCES AT MARAZION

Licensees duped by specious story.

How the licensees of the Coach and Horses Inn, Breage. and the Godolphin Hotel. Marazion, were duped by a specious story was revealed at Helston, on Thursday, when Arthur Wesley Coombs, a young man. of Limetree House, Castle Crescent, Reading, was charged with obtaining £5 and £6 by false pretences from Mr. Wilfred Hope, licensee of the Coach and Horses Inn. Breage.

There was a further charge against the accused of obtaining from Stanley Linscott Turner, of the Godolphin Hotel, Marazion, on January 27, £5 by means of a worthless cheque, with intent to defraud.

Mr. Eric Thomas, who prosecuted, stated that on January 18 the accused called the inn and told Mr. and Mrs. Hope he was the owner of an air circus of six 'planes flying between Reading and Edinburgh, and made other statements which led Mr. and Mrs. Hope to believe he was a person of a certain amount of substance. He stayed at the inn as a boarder from January 28 to February 2. January 23 he borrowed £5 from Mr. Hope, giving a cheque obtained from a customer, changing the name of the bank to that of Bank of Scotland. The following day Mr. Hope lent him £6, and the same procedure was followed. On January 31 the cheques were returned marked "No funds."

Accused pleaded "Guilty," and said he expected to have sufficient money to meet the cheques. As soon as he realised he was unable to clear them he sent Mr. Hope a payment on account. Mr. Thomas confirmed that Mr. Hope had received £4 from the accused. Accused asked the Bench to take the second charge into consideration when passing sentence. Accused pleaded ''Not guilty" to having obtained food and lodgings to the value of 19s. from Mrs. Hilda Hope, wife of the licensee, and the Bench dismissed the case. The Bench fined the accused a total of £12 including costs. The Chairman (Mr. 0. Rows), said the Bench had been influenced in their decision by the fact that accused was on the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and that he would be reporting for duty on May 1. They had strained a point in not depriving him of his liberty."

Address in 1940: 14, Castle Crescent, Reading (Mother, Ellie Maud [Wesley] Coombs)


Postings: 3FPP

Contract Terminated (Disciplinary Reasons)


Post-ATA, Arthur said he "worked for the Ministry of Aircraft Production, as a test pilot then as Chief Technical Officer, from 1939 until 1946". He then claimed to have been "General Manager of an aircraft company", and to have operated his own aircraft company from Croydon and Eastleigh.

From 1954 he was employed first as a wine salesman and then as a driving instructor.

In 1954, he was convicted of stealing a typewriter.

In 1955, he was sent to jail for 18 months for fraud and theft, again involving dishonoured cheques.

During his trial, "Mr Guy Willett submitted that the accused was a man who, having been extremely successful, could not believe his luck had changed."

d. 1979 - Portsmouth 

 

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