Reg Thomas (athlete)

Reg Thomas

Reginald Thomas in 1929
Personal information
Born	11 January 1907 Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales
Died	14 March 1946 (aged 39) Brownshill, Chalford, Gloucestershire, England
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	800–5000 m
Club	Royal Air Force Milocarian Athletic Club Newport Harriers
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	800 m – 1:53.6 (1929/37) 1500 m – 3:53.5 (1937) 3 miles – 14:53.4 (1935)[1][2]
Medal record Representing  England British Empire Games 1930 Hamilton 1 mile 1930 Hamilton 880 yards

Reginald "Reg" Heber Thomas AFC (11 January 1907 – 14 March 1946) was a Welsh middle-distance runner. He competed at the 1928 and 1932 Summer Olympics and the 1930 British Empire Games. He missed the 1936 Summer Olympics because of injury, and did not compete in the 1934 British Empire Games for Wales, because of English objections. At both Olympics he was eliminated in the first round of the 1500 metres event. At the 1930 Empire Games he won the gold medal in the mile and the silver medal in the 880 yards race. He could not compete for Wales because Wales did not have a national athletics association at the time. Welsh track and field athletes could only compete for England in 1930 although Welsh swimmers did compete for their home nation.^[1]

On 8 June 1944 Thomas a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve was awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC).^[3]

By 1946 he was a Squadron Leader pilot in the Royal Air Force when he was killed piloting an Avro Lancaster bomber in 1946; after take-off from RAF Aston Down all the engines failed and the bomber crashed into a nursing home at Brown's Hill, Bussage near Chalford, he was later buried at Haycombe Cemetery in Bath.^[1][4]

References

1. Reg Thomas. sports-reference.com
2. Reginald Thomas. trackfield.brinkster.net
3. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 36544. p. 2648. 8 June 1944. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
4. Commonwealth 43825 Squadron Leader Reginald Heber Thomas. War Graves Commission