Colchester United were deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of former forward Arthur Turner on Friday 25th January in Sevenoaks.
Arthur, who was 98 at the time of his passing – played for the U’s between 1946 and 1952, scoring a remarkable 100 goals in just 164 appearances.
The front man, pictured third from right in the action shot above, is one of only four players to score a century or more goals for the club.
Serving in the RAF as an air-gunner in the Second World War, Arthur was on board a Wellington Bomber plane that was shot down in the Bay of Biscay in 1943. The sole survivor of the crash, he was rescued at sea.
During the war years, he represented Charlton Athletic as an amateur, playing nine times in their FA Cup campaign that saw the final against Derby that year.
Following that cup final, he switched to the U’s, making his switch to the club permanent in the autumn of 1946.
Arthur helped the U’s to a runners up spot in the Southern League in 1949/50 and he was part of the U’s first league squad – scoring our first ever league goal, against Swindon in August 1950.
His goalscoring form attracted attention from Brentford, who were warded off by the U’s board and their reported £9,000 demands for the forward.
After leaving the U’s, he went on to join Headington United.
Our thoughts are with Arthur’s family at this sad time.