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Runnymede Memorial

The Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede commemorates 20,401 British Commonwealth air force personnel lost operating from bases in Great Britain and North-West Europe during World War II who have, or had, no known grave.

Those commemorated served in Bomber, Fighter, Coastal, Transport, Ferry, Flying Training and Maintenance Commands and a few in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Air Training Corps, Air Transport Auxiliary and British Overseas Airways Corporation. Bomber Command, which lost the most, and Coastal Command, operating over the ocean, feature heavily. Bombers laden with fuel and bombs often blew up at high altitude, with wreckage and remains scattered, while aircraft crashing into the sea disappeared under the waves.