John Phillips was born in Thame in 1920 the son of Ernest James and Annie Phillips (nee Eade) of Lower High Street, Thame. He was employed on the office staff of Oxfordshire County Council, prior to that he was employed by Birch, Stockton and Fortescue solicitors in Thame.

He married Elizabeth Eunice Perman in December 1940 in the Ploughley Reg District.

He flew as a Sergeant Observer/Air Gunner with 206 Sqn based at RAF Bircham Newton, Norfolk. They were on North Sea patrol in Lockheed Hudson Mk 1 T9289, VX-A when the aircraft ran out of fuel on the return leg on 11th February 1941. The aircraft was abandoned over the sea and all the crew were lost.

742921 Sergeant John Phillips RAF(VR) has no known grave and is commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede in Surrey. He is remembered in Thame on the War Memorial, St Mary’s Church Memorial Board and on Lord Williams’s School Memorial Board.