Notes
Kenneth Michael Garton Durrant (known as Michael) was born in Surrey on 17 September 1923, the only son of Catherine (née Wainwright) and Kenneth Garton Durrant, the director of a brewery. He was educated at Charterhouse School from 1937 to 1941 where he was a member of the Maniacs Cricket XI and the Harpies Football XI, and he won his school colours for cross country running.
Michael Durrant enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and entered Worcester College, Oxford as an RAF cadet on a short course on 24 April 1942. He trained as a navigator and rose to the rank of Sergeant. On leaving Worcester College he was posted to 582 Squadron. On the night of the 15/16 September 1944 Bomber Command ordered an operation on Kiel, and Michael Durrant was the navigator in a Lancaster bomber which took off from RAF Little Staughton at 10.28pm on the 15th. The aircraft crashed into the North Sea with the loss of the entire crew, including Sergeant Michael Durrant. He was 20 years old.
Michael Durrant is buried at Kiel War Cemetery and commemorated on the war memorials at Charterhouse School, at Weybridge, on a stained-glass window at St Mary’s Church, Christon, Bristol, and on the war memorial at Worcester College, Oxford.