Low, Robert
Flight Sergeant (Air Gunner)
No. 817273, Royal Air Force
Killed in an aircraft accident on Sunday 25 January 1942 (aged 26)
Buried:
Aberdeen (Allenvale) Cemetery, Scotland (Section D Grave 2068)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Low was born on 22 May 1915 and he was a son of Robert and Margaret Singer Low (nee Howitt) of 76 Leslie Terrace, Aberdeen. They were married on 21 June 1905 in Rosemount Place, Aberdeen according to the forms of the Established Church of Scotland and they had two children:
John (born 31 July 1906)
Robert (born 22 May 1915)
Robert Low Senior worked as a slaughterman in an abattoir and in December 1915 he joined the Royal Army Service Corps. During the First World War he served in France.
Before he joined the Royal Air Force, Robert Low Junior worked as a grocer’s assistant and he was 25 when he and Alexandra Smith Cooper (aged 24, daughter of the late Alexander Smith Cooper) were married on 3 March 1941 in North and Trinity Church of Scotland, Aberdeen.
On 25 January 1942, in the afternoon, Flight Sergeant Robert Low was aboard a Boulton Paul Defiant aircraft (N1647) being flown by Sergeant Ross Lindeman of 153 Squadron based at RAF Ballyhalbert. They took off from RAF Eglinton in County Londonderry to fly to RAF Ballyhalbert. Before the flight, the aircraft had been tested and found to be fully serviceable. There was a gusty wind blowing, the general weather conditions were described as ‘fair’ and the visibility as ‘excellent’.
The accident occurred immediately after take-off when the aircraft was seen to bank steeply, turn over on its back and dive into the ground. Both crew members were killed. Sergeant Ross Lindeman was buried in Ballyhalbert (St. Andrew’s) Church of Ireland Churchyard, Ballyeasborough, Co. Down. Flight Sergeant Robert Low was 26 when he died, and he was buried in Aberdeen (Allenvale) Cemetery in Scotland. There is an inscription on the Low family headstone:
TO THE DEAR MEMORY OF
MY BELOVED HUSBAND
ROBERT LOW
FLIGHT SERGEANT R.A.F.
WHO DIED ON ACTIVE SERVICE
25TH JANUARY 1942 AGED 26 YEARS
ALSO HIS DEAR MOTHER
MARGARET S. HOWITT OR LOW
WHO DIED 22ND AUGUST 1949
AGED 69 YEARS
ALSO OUR DEARLY LOVED MOTHER
JEANNIE REID COOPER
WHO DIED 2ND JANUARY 1959 AGED 77 YEARS
BELOVED WIFE OF
ALEXANDER SMITH COOPER
1/5 GORDON HIGHLANDERS
WHO FELL IN ACTION
4TH NOVEMBER 1918 AGED 40 YEARS
INTERRED AT WEZ-VELVAIN CEMETERY BELGIUM
ALSO ROBERT LOW
FATHER OF THE FIRST NAMED
WHO DIED 12TH JANUARY 1962 AGED 82 YEARS
ALSO ALEXANDRA SMITH LOW
WHO DIED 23RD OCTOBER 1994 AGED 77 YEARS
BELOVED WIFE OF THE LATE
ROBERT LOW JR.
TO LIVE IN HEARTS WE LEAVE BEHIND IS NOT TO DIE
During the Second World War, Alexandra Smith Low (nee Cooper) lost her husband, having already lost her father, Private Alexander Smith Cooper (No. 242212, 5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders), during the First World War.